The Marketplace Morning Report with Kai Ryssdal and Tess Vigeland is a series of seven 9-minute business news modules airing weekdays. This timely report delivers a global business newscast and a hard-hitting feature report. Visit the archive to browse previous stories.
Note: Each of the broadcasts contains some of the newscast items below and one of the features. Since only a few radio markets get all seven broadcasts, we've made them available below.
From New York: Big news in the labor world. Workers at a Wal-Mart store in Quebec have won the right to unionize. If the union comes to fruition, it would be the first unionized Wal-Mart store in the world.
From Los Angeles: Oil prices are rising faster than the thermostat this summer. Prices ended today at $44.16 a barrel in New York. There are plenty of culprits. Troubles at Russia's Yukos oil company, attacks on Iraqi pipelines, over eager speculators, and OPEC. But there's another factor too.
From Washington: Frustrated by the flurry of advisories on mercury and fish, Northern New England fishermen are joining the environmental fight to get the government to control mercury emissions controls.
From Boston: This week, Britain becomes the first country to sell cholesterol lowering drugs over the counter. The Food and Drug Administration has turned down one industry petition to sell these drugs without a prescription in the U.S.
From Los Angeles: Halliburton has agreed to pay a $7.5 million fine to settle allegations with the SEC that it failed to disclose a change in its 1998 accounting procedures. The missing charge threw off earnings statements.
From Beijing: Consumer demand for cars in the U.S. rebounded in June according to data out on Tuesday. But those numbers came as car buyers in china slammed on the brakes.
From London: The International Monetary Fund has urged Europeans to work harder. The IMF says that EU workers must put in more hours to pull their economies out of the doldrums.
Features
Politics and the business of hiring
Lots of job news this week. The outplacement firm Challenger, Gray and Christmas reports hiring announcements fell about 30 percent in July. And politicians are anxious about business hiring decisions. In this edition of the Public's Business, Marketplace commentator Robert Reich says that's why political leaders are focusing on some other numbers due later this week.
Political gridlock? Must be an election year...
If you're getting ready for a late summer vacation, chances are you are staying late to tie up loose ends before you go. And elected officials in Congress have probably done the same, right? Well, not exactly. Congress is on an extended August break for national party conventions and home-district campaigning. Back in Washington, they've left much undone. This year, Congress failed to approve a budget blueprint for next year's spending. Still pending are major priorities to establish a national energy policy, allocate highway, bridge and mass transit projects... and a vital reform of export taxes. John Dimsdale reports on the economic consequences of Washington's election-year political gridlock.
Wednesday, August 4, 2004
