Marketplace Morning Report

• When the job market is a "complicated, unusual, difficult situation"

  The Federal Reserve decided to cut interest rates again at its meeting this week, partly because Fed officials think the labor market is weaker than it appears. This morning, we'll hear why Fed Chair Jerome Powell says estimating job growth can be so tricky. Also on the show, we'll dig into the drone warfare industry, central to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war. Plus, are we past tariff inflation yet?

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• ICE raids harken back to COVID-era hardship

  The COVID-19 pandemic changed the economic circumstances of many, creating demand for direct aid, interrupting consumer spending, and altering the nature of work. Today, there are people across the country in lockdown again — mixed-status immigrant families, who are experiencing disruptive economic pressures that mirror the pandemic. Today, we'll draw parallels. Plus, more people admit to stealing at self-checkouts. And, what can we expect from the Federal Reserve in 2026?

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• Mexico raises tariffs on imports from Asia

  From the BBC World Service: Mexico’s parliament has voted in favor of a bill imposing tariffs of between 5% and 50% on more than 1,400 products from Asian nations, including China. Mexico states that the aim is to boost jobs and domestic production. Then, survivors of a deadly typhoon in the Philippines have filed a legal claim in Britain against the oil and gas giant Shell. And later, we'll hear about the lucrative business of making drones and developing the technology to thwart them.

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• On Instacart: same store, same item, different price

  Dynamic pricing is here. Several consumer groups designed a shopping experiment with hundreds of volunteers who shopped on Instacart for the same products at the same time from the same stores. The conclusion? 75% of products were offered at different prices to different customers. Plus, we'll chat about what's next for interest rates today and on into the new year. And later, we'll have a conversation about AI with Nobel laureate Peter Howitt.

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• Beware of shady refinance offers

  Today, the Federal Reserve is expected to lower interest rates by a quarter point. While there's no guarantee of it, the move could translate to lower mortgage rates, too. This presents an opportunity for bad actors to pitch homeowners something that might cost more than they’d think. Today, we discuss some "too good to be true" refinance opportunities. But first, Texas has launched the first state-run cryptocurrency reserve with a $5 million purchase of Bitcoin.

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