Marketplace: Wednesday, June 02, 2004

Listen (entire show) | how to listen | sign up for newsletter | order transcript

A look at today's markets (closing numbers)
DOW 60.32 (.59%%) ; NASDAQ 1.79 (.09%%) ; S&P 500 3.79 (.34%%)

Newscast You might not want to race out and buy that Hummer just yet. But oil prices did shift into reverse on this Wednesday, June 2nd. By the time the dust settled on the New York Mercantile Exchange today, crude oil prices were down 5.6 percent to close at $39.95 a barrel. The drop came after the United Arab Emirates said it would pump another 400,000 barrels a day to ease the pressure on oil prices. In Saudi Arabia, suspected militants fired at U.S. troops in Riyadh today; no Americans were hurt. And Saudi forces killed two men who were reportedly linked to last weekend's deadly attack on foreign oil workers. Those kinds of attacks are aimed at driving westerners out of the country, and damaging the Saudi oil industry. But so far, the country hasn't lost a single barrel of production. And while oil companies are boosting security, few foreign workers have left. Listen to all newscast items

Features South Dakota's Special Election South Dakota has a new member of Congress. Democrat Stephanie Herseth will be sworn in tomorrow after narrowly winning a special election to replace former congressman Bill Janklow. South Dakota has a population of less than 800,000, and TV commercials there run pretty cheap. That didn't stop Republicans and Democrats, though, from dropping about $2 million each in the lead up to yesterday's election. Reporter: Steve Henn Related Story: Democrat Wins South Dakota House Race Rubberneckin' - Elvis Presley Support Marketplace: Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource Rich Man, Poor Man The wrangling over President Bush's $2.4 trillion budget has moved mostly behind the scenes. In the Senate, GOP moderates don't want to approve that kind of money without a guarantee that any more tax cuts will be offset by spending cuts. Deals are being cut right now. But the bigger deal, just might be the widest gap in a century between the very rich and the very poor. Commentator: Robert Reich Related Story: Conference looks at wider income gap Today - Paul Van Dyk Support Marketplace: Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource Philadelphia Goes After a Different Market ... The City of Brotherly Love is hoping tourists will take it's nickname more literally. Philly launches a new ad campaign today designed to draw more gay visitors to the area. Using the slogan "get your history straight and your nightlife gay" the spots will air on local cable. Q + A: Rich Thomaselli Related Story: Philadelphia kicking off gay travel ad campaign Philadelphia - B.B. King Support Marketplace: Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource Recruiting During War? Hey No Problem! President Bush gave the commencement address today at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado. He told the graduates that the fight against terrorism is a struggle between freedom and tyranny similar to that of World War Two. The motto of this year's Academy class is *ready to fight. And those are more than just words for the newly-commissioned officers. The Pentagon plans to keep about 135,000 troops in Iraq at least through next year. With the country at war, and the newspapers and TV news full of grisly pictures from Iraq, you'd think recruiters would have a tough sell. Reporter: Jeff Tyler Related Story: Military Recruitment : No Recruiting Opportunity Left Behind? Boogie Woogie - Tommy Dorsey Support Marketplace: Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource Is That a New Thyroid? Top scientists asked the United Nations this week to leave stem cell research out of a treaty to ban human cloning. The scientists want the UN to make a distinction between reproductive cloning of human beings - and therapeutic cloning of stem cells to fight disease. No surprise to our commentator that South Korean scientists were in the group petitioning the UN. He's been marveling at the country's ingenuity ever since it annouced its first successful cloning of human cells earlier this year... Commentator: Tim Bedore Web Resource: Tim's 'Vague But True' website Science vs. Romance (Variations on A Theme) - Rilo Kiley Support Marketplace: Purchase this music from Public Radio MusicSource

Coming up on Marketplace... Fifteen years after the Tiananmen Square massacre, the students involved in the demonstration still struggle to find their way.