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- [00:00]
A
It's tax season and at Lifelock, we know you're tired of numbers, but here's a big one you need to hear. Billions. That's the amount of money and refunds the IRS has flagged for possible identity fraud. Now here's another big number. 100 million. That's how many data points LifeLock monitors every second. If your identity is stolen, we'll fix it, guaranteed. One last big number. Save up to 40% your first year. Visit lifelock.com specialoffer for the threats you can't control.
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B
Terms apply Global financial jitters about what are referred to as non bank banks or private credit. Despite wholesale inflation coming in hot this morning, investors are still buying U.S. government bonds this morning. The benchmark 10 year interest rate is now below 4%. But analysts say it's a move toward a safe haven. But why now? Christopher Low is chief economist at FHN Financial in New York. Hey, Chris.
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C
Hey, David.
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B
So U.S. government bonds, people are buying those because they're worried about something else. The something else is coming out of London. What is it?
- [01:07]
C
It's private credit. It's specifically mfs, which is a big lender making risky loans, the kind of loans that banks don't want to make. And they do it by borrowing from investors and from banks and securing capital which they then pledge as collateral. They've been accused of double counting collateral and as a result the banks have pulled funding and MFS is in the British equivalency of bankruptcy this morning.
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B
All right, well, we'll see if those accusations are borne out. But we do see evidence. There are published reports that some of the banks that are creditors are exposed to some of these losses. This sounds familiar to that auto subprime lender Tricolor that ran into trouble late last year.
- [02:05]
C
That's right. And people are starting to think it might be a bigger pattern. And so what we're seeing in the broad market today, Treasuries lower in yield. That's people fleeing to quality and high yield debt. What we affectionately know as junk bonds, those yields are rising. When junk spreads rise, it's a signal to the entire industry, credit industry, that lenders are nervous and pulling back from what they perceive as the most risky parts of the credit markets.
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B
All right, we'll continue to monitor this. Christopher Lowe, chief economist, FHN Financial in New York. Thank you.
- [02:50]
C
Thank you, David.
- [02:51]
B
And this will remind many of a comment made last fall by the CEO of the biggest of banks, Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase. After that private credit auto lender Tricolor went bankrupt. His quote, when you see one cockroach, there are probably more. The artificial intelligence firm Anthropic has rejected the Pentagon's demands for unrestricted use of its technology. The Department of Defense says Anthropic has to agree to its terms by the end of the day or face consequences. Marketplace's Nancy Marshall Genzer reports.
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D
Anthropic is insisting that its technology, like its chatbot Claude, not be used in mass domestic surveillance or fully autonomous weapons. The Defense Department is insisting it allowed to deploy AI for, quote, any lawful use. In a post on X, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell says the military has no interest in using AI to conduct mass surveillance of Americans and doesn't want to use AI to develop autonomous weapons. Parnell says Anthropic has until 5:01pm Eastern time today to decide otherwise. The Pentagon will terminate its partnership with Anthropic and label the company a supply chain risk. Anthropic would be blacklisted and its partnerships with other fir be severed. Anthropic still says its strong preference is to continue to serve the Pentagon with surveillance and autonomous weapons safeguards. But a senior Pentagon official tells Marketplace the Defense Department sent Anthropic its last and final offer Wednesday night. I'm Nancy Marshall Genser for Marketplace.
- [04:42]
B
Time to take the marketplace economic pulse views on the economy from a wide range of perspectives. Today, a check in on what we used to call a lobster fisherman when I grew up in Maine. Now that I live on the other coast, I have to say Lobster Professional. In 2024, Maine's Commercial Fisheries did about $700 million in business, with lobsters accounting for the largest share of that total. Sonny Beale is a lobsterman and board member of the Maine Lobsterman's Association. He's on an island wicked down east. Mr. Beale, welcome.
- [05:15]
E
Thank you for having me.
- [05:16]
B
I guess it's like actors who never say the name of the Scottish Shakespeare play because bad things will then happen. What is it that lobster folks stay away from? The number of how their catch was.
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E
We're usually pretty secretive on what we catch, you know, because if somebody finds out that you're doing good, they might move in on your territory and stuff. So we try to keep it kind of hush hush.
- [05:35]
B
Yeah. And as it refers to your business, what's the vibe?
- [05:39]
E
The catch was down a little bit this season. It was down about 30% statewide. We can't have record years every year. So, you know, we kind of just take it for what it is. The price was down a little bit from last year, but Last year was a record price. So we're still chugging along, you know, and we have good years and bad years, and, you know, we take it as a.
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B
Now, when you're out in the ocean doing your work, it is not a free for all. Some of it is strict custom. You know, you don't mess with anybody else's traps. But some of it is formal government regulation. And I know that is something that people in your business have to plan around and compensate for and sometimes has costs.
- [06:18]
E
Yes, that's correct. 20 years ago or so, we had to switch from floating ground lines to sinking ground lines. The ground lines are the. The lines that are in between your traps on bottom. And also, you know, the rope doesn't last as long where it's chafing on bottom. So, you know, it's rope that we have to buy every single year. We have to buy breakaway devices for our buoys. So if a whale gets caught in a buoy, you know, the device breaks, the buoy pops off, the wheel doesn't get entangled. We now have to put breakaway links, plastic links, in our lines. So, you know, if the buoy doesn't break, then the line will break. And actually, they said that now that we have the link in our line, we don't need the link in our buoy. So it's just, you know, they're going. Going right around Robin Hood's barn, kind of a deal. We also have to put colored tracers in our lines. Like where I fish, I have to have a purple tracer. And then when I fish out in federal waters, I have to have a green tracer in my line, and I have to have three of those from buoy to trap. So we're highly regulated, that's for sure.
- [07:16]
B
You've been doing this since you were a kid. I think you have two children, a teenager and maybe college age.
- [07:22]
E
I have two boys and 20 years old.
- [07:25]
B
Yes. So what do they think about getting into this business?
- [07:28]
E
It's one of those things when they say, you know, you got salt in your veins. That's really a thing. I was kind of, you know, disappointed. Not disappointed, but when my youngest son didn't go to college and now my oldest son wants to come home and go fishing. I always told him, I said, I wish you guys would use your brain and not your back. And my wife said, you know, she says you can't raise these guys fishing and being on the ocean and expect them not to do it when they get older.
- [07:53]
B
Sonny Beale is a lobstering professional from Maine. Thank you very much for the briefing.
- [07:57]
E
No problem.
- [07:57]
C
You're very welcome.
- [08:00]
B
Beal is a big name up there. I had another Mr. Beal as my stern driver's ed instructor in high school. Look, signal and look young fella. David Brancaccio, Marketplace Morning Report from APM American Public Media America's housing system is under strain. From natural disasters to the rising cost of shelter, the challenges we face and the solutions we embrace will shape how we live for the next hundred years. I'm David Brancaccio, host of the Marketplace Morning Report, and I've been working with this old House radio hour on a special podcast episode that explores how Americans are reimagining housing in this changing world. It's called Building Tomorrow. From wildfire resistant houses in California to tiny home communities in Texas to a super duper energy efficient house in the Northeast, this special blends innovation, new business models and personal stories to explore how resilience, affordability and our climate reality are redefining what home looks like. To listen, go to Marketplace Morning Report in your podcast. Apparently.