Daily business news with Kai Ryssdal, tracking Fed policy, oil shocks, and private credit.
Marketplace treats the economy as something people live inside, not a scoreboard for traders. Across daily reports, interviews, and field pieces, it follows prices, jobs, banks, energy, trade, war, and work until the household stakes come into view.
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Marketplace is produced by American Public Media and structured as a daily weekday news broadcast rather than a long-form interview show. The show's own description names Kai Ryssdal as host, and he is credited across sampled episodes; other host bylines appear on some days (transcribed variously as Kai Risdahl, Kyle Rizdahl, and Kyle Rizzo), suggesting either occasional rotating hosts or inconsistent name transcription. Each episode opens with the day's dominant economic story — oil price moves tied to the Strait of Hormuz, Fed rate and independence debates, or a jobs or inflation report — before moving through two or three shorter, related segments. Interview guests lean toward economists, Federal Reserve officials, and financial analysts, including outgoing Atlanta Fed president Rafael Bostic and Brookings Institution senior fellow Robin Brooks. A rotating group of staff reporters, among them Carla Javier, Daniel Ackerman, Mitchell Hartman, Kristen Schwab, and Nova Safo, file segments on specific sectors such as shipping, health care staffing, and AI's effect on software and labor markets. Recurring throughlines across the sampled episodes include the economic fallout of the Iran war and Strait of Hormuz closure, the roughly two-trillion-dollar private credit market, Fed credibility on inflation, and the labor market's slow-hiring, slow-firing pattern. The show also profiles small and mid-size businesses directly affected by these trends, such as a children's clothing manufacturer and independent farmers weighing government aid against selling into open markets. Segments are typically 3-5 minutes each within the episode, mixing anchor narration, correspondent reporting, and short guest interviews rather than a single extended conversation. The intended listener is someone who wants daily, plain-language coverage of how economic and policy news translates into prices, jobs, and business decisions, without requiring a finance or economics background.
Made for: Listeners who want a daily, jargon-light rundown of business and economic news, including how Fed policy, trade, and global events affect specific companies, farmers, and workers.
What sets it apart: Pairs macro news on Fed policy, war-driven oil shocks, and private credit risk with reporter-filed stories on how those trends hit specific small businesses and farmers, in a consistent daily 25-minute format rather than long-form debate.
Every weekday, host Kai Ryssdal helps you make sense of the day's business and economic news — no econ degree or finance background required. "Marketplace" takes you beyond the numbers, bringing you context. Our team of reporters all over the world speak with CEOs, policymakers and regular people just trying to get by.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Marketplace connects economic headlines to the workplaces, households, infrastructure, and market mechanics where their consequences become clear.
Marketplace keeps asking what an economic development changes once it reaches a workplace, household, market, or piece of infrastructure. Kai Ryssdal moves between interviews, reported stories, and plain-language explanation, giving the program enough range to connect headline…
Stagflation meets bridge budgets, and you leave able to explain both without reaching for jargon.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A brisk Marketplace labor-market scan that moves from uncertainty and farm trade pressure to jet fuel risk.
Marketplace opens with a labor-market puzzle: hiring and firing are quiet, yet the economy keeps taking hits without cracking in the obvious places. The sharper material sits around that frame rather than inside a narrow temp-work explainer.
A loose, candid live Marketplace episode that turns stagflation worries into a broader civic case for paying attention.
Marketplace brings its Los Angeles live show into the feed with Kai Ryssdal using the stage to make economic anxiety feel immediate rather than abstract.
A clear Marketplace explainer on why oil shocks hit U.S. drivers faster than natural gas turmoil does.
Marketplace turns a Friday news roundup into a useful lesson on why energy shocks land unevenly. The episode opens with the March jobs report: 178,000 new jobs and 4.3% unemployment look solid on the surface, but the discussion flags a frozen labor market, workers leaving the…
A clear Marketplace report on how traffic, public spending, engineering timelines, and maritime commerce meet in the Key Bridge rebuild.
Marketplace frames the Francis Scott Key Bridge rebuild as a business story with human stakes: longer commutes, a budget that could reach $5.2 billion, federal funding, and a replacement built for larger ships than the 1970s span could accommodate.
A brisk Marketplace episode on private credit nerves, fuel logistics, and why quick policy waivers have real limits.
Marketplace works best here when it follows the infrastructure behind market stress: nervous private credit investors, fuel moving by barge, and the limits of a short Jones Act waiver. The shipping segment is the clearest stretch.
A clear Marketplace briefing on oil, gas prices, inflation expectations, and the consumer mood, with a sharp supply-chain detour into ube.
Marketplace treats the oil shock as a household balance-sheet story. Kimberly Adams starts with Brent crude's jump and the gas-price pain already showing up at the pump, then uses Catherine Rampell and consumer sentiment reporting to trace how a war-driven energy jolt can feed…
A restrained Marketplace read on a soft jobs report, health care hiring, and the rising benefits cost of weight loss drugs.
Marketplace treats the weak jobs report as a warning shot for an economy caught between rising inflation and a labor market that looks less sturdy than earlier data suggested.
A clear Marketplace risk read on how wartime shocks could move from energy markets into inflation, bills, and borrowing costs.
Marketplace treats a fast-moving wartime economy as a question of risk: what happens when an already uncertain U.S. economy gets another shock on top of tariffs, immigration changes, and higher oil pressure.
Kaiser Kuo interviews China specialists on trade, Taiwan, and economic reform.
Dry arguments for an unruly public square.
Marketplace opens with Kyle Rizdahl in Los Angeles on Friday, April 17, asking whether the economy is “good now” before saying it is clearly not fine.
Labor takes the wheel.
Kai brings Marketplace to a Los Angeles stage, but the entrance nearly goes sideways when the gong and music miss their mark.
Hosts discuss the latest inflation report showing consumer prices up 3.3% and its impact on the economy.
Host Kai Ryssdal discusses the latest GDP and PCE data with labor economist Catherine Ann Edwards, analyzing the impact of the government shutdown and weak job growth on the economy.
Host Kai Ryssdal discusses the current state of the global economy with economist Mohamed El-Erian, analyzing the phases of economic shock from the war.
Host Kai Ryssdal discusses the day's business and economic news, focusing on inflation and market reactions to presidential statements.
This episode covers inflation as the key economic theme, focusing on rising prices in the services sector and upcoming inflation reports.
Marketplace has a packed Friday: a March jobs report that reads well at first, then a slower question about why work still feels stuck.
This episode covers the economic implications of the president's speech on the Iran conflict, focusing on oil markets and tariffs.
Host Kai Ryssdal discusses the one-year anniversary of Trump's tariffs and how other countries are forming trade agreements without the U.S.
This episode covers the impact of geopolitical events on aluminum and coal prices, including tariffs and supply chain disruptions.
Host Kai Ryssdal covers the day's business and economic news, including market reactions to Trump's Iran negotiations and a look at the bond market.
Host Kai Ryssdal discusses the day's market movements and economic impacts of the war with reporters from Bloomberg and Axios.
The traffic has become part of daily life.
This episode analyzes the unexpected 1.3% increase in U.S.
Finance gets the boring-again treatment first.
Kyle Rizzo opens Marketplace on Monday, March 23 in Los Angeles with the question, "what if the markets are an idiot?" Robin Brooks of the Brookings Institution joins to test whether traders are overreacting to presidential promises and day-to-day headlines.
This episode analyzes the Federal Reserve's recent meeting, focusing on Chair Jerome Powell's hawkish comments about inflation progress and the impact of global conflicts on economic policy.
This episode covers the latest drop in weekly jobless claims and its implications for the labor market amid geopolitical uncertainty.
This episode analyzes the Federal Reserve's decision to maintain interest rates, focusing on Chair Jerome Powell's comments about balancing inflation control with job market protection amid economic uncertainties from tariffs and Middle East conflicts.
This episode covers how high jet fuel prices, the Middle East war, and the government shutdown are impacting airlines and air travel.
This episode discusses how the Federal Reserve and other central banks are likely to hold interest rates steady due to economic uncertainty from war and potential oil price shocks.
Host Kristen Schwab and Washington Post reporter Rachel Siegel discuss the relevance of recent economic data (PCE, JOLTS, GDP) amid a rapidly changing economic landscape.
This episode covers the impact of Middle East conflict on global oil supply and refinery operations.
Host Kimberly Adams discusses the latest Consumer Price Index inflation report with economist Nicole Servi, analyzing the numbers and their implications.
This episode covers the economic impact of the Middle East war on oil markets and rising airfares, with analysis from industry experts.
Oil markets finally woke up.
The economy is stuck between bad choices.
This episode covers the latest economic news, focusing on the upcoming jobs report and the decline in manufacturing employment.
Host Kai Ryssdal discusses the day's business and economic news, focusing on unusual market behavior in U.S.
Host Kai Ryssdal discusses the economic impact of a new war in the Middle East with Wall Street Journal columnist Greg Ip.
Risk sets the tone today.
Debt runs this economy.
Sticky inflation goes first.
Analysis of the Supreme Court's tariff ruling and its impact on the economy, with expert commentary.