Podcast Summary: Marketplace Morning Report — “Inflation is stubbornly steady”

Date: January 13, 2026
Host: Sabri Benashour (in for David Brancaccio)
Length: ~8 minutes
Theme:
Today’s episode breaks down the latest U.S. inflation numbers, examines the debate over credit card interest rate caps, reviews legal news impacting the energy sector, and gets an insider's look at Google’s quantum computing lab.

1. Inflation Report: Still Stuck, Not Worse

Key Segment: [00:01] – [02:11]

Headline Numbers:

• December’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) shows prices are up 2.7% year-over-year — unchanged from November.
• Month-to-month, prices increased by 0.3%.

Guest Insight:

• Jeffrey Cleveland, Chief Economist at Paden and Regal

Core Discussion Points:

• The core CPI (excluding food and energy) was a bit softer than expected: 0.2% increase for the month, 2.6% for the year.
• This “keeps the dream alive” for Wall Street, as it suggests the Fed could still cut interest rates if inflation continues this trajectory.

Notable Quotes:

• “The good news, especially for those folks on Wall Street at least, is that the much-watched core cpi ... was a bit softer than expected.”
  — Jeffrey Cleveland [00:40]
• “I think that keeps the dream alive ... for rate cuts, the Federal Reserve ... is waiting for inflation to continue to moderate.”
  — Jeffrey Cleveland [01:10]

What’s Getting Expensive?

• Food prices surged, with the overall food index up 0.7% in December. Food at home and away were both up notably.

• Cleveland emphasizes that for most people, a “softer” core CPI isn’t reassuring if food prices keep spiking.

  “They’re going to look at food and say, hey, no, this is a problem.”
  — Jeffrey Cleveland [01:57]

2. Fourth Quarter Earnings & Credit Card Interest Rate Debate

Key Segment: [02:13] – [04:02]

Corporate Earnings:

• JPMorgan Chase reported net income of $57 billion — its second-best year ever.
• Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup earnings are coming up.

Policy Spotlight: Trump’s Call to Cap Credit Card Rates

• President Trump has proposed capping credit card interest rates at 10%, about half of current typical rates.

Expert Reactions:

• Analysts aren’t sure what legal powers Trump could use to enforce a cap.
• Ted Rossman (Bankrate):

  “The problem is that it just wouldn’t be profitable for banks and they would cut back on lending dramatically.” [02:59]

  • Credit card debt is riskier and thus carries higher rates.

  “One of the big reasons why credit Card rates are 3 or 4 or 5x higher than a lot of other financial products is it’s unsecured debt.” [03:13]

• Lauren Saunders (National Consumer Law Center):

  “The credit card companies make billions of dollars in profits off of credit cards, and they certainly have room to charge lower rates than they do today.” [03:42]

Implications:

• A strict cap may reduce access to credit for those with scores below 740, potentially dampening consumer spending and hurting the economy.
• Realistic reductions to rates might be a modest 1–2 percentage points, not down to 10%.

3. Offshore Wind Project Legal Victory

Key Segment: [04:02] – [04:41]

• A federal judge overturned the Trump administration’s suspension of a nearly completed offshore wind project near Rhode Island.
  • The administration argued turbines posed a national security risk; the judge disagreed.
• The developer (Orsted, Denmark) says this wind farm will power 350,000 homes.
• After the ruling, Orsted shares rose 3.4%.

4. Quantum Computing Race: Inside Google’s Quantum AI Lab

Key Segment: [05:11] – [08:19]

BBC Special Report: Faisal Islam tours Google’s Santa Barbara Quantum Lab.

Inside the Lab:

• Hartmut Neven (Lab Lead) and Julian Kelly (Senior Hardware Director) take listeners into a state-of-the-art facility.

Key Insights:

• The lab’s new chip, “Willow,” accomplishes calculations in minutes that would take today’s supercomputers “ten septillion years” (10 followed by 25 zeros).

  • “The power of these chips is rather mind boggling ... a benchmark computation ... took just a few minutes ... but would have taken ten septillion years on today’s top supercomputer.”
    — Hartmut Neven [06:37]

• Quantum computers rely on superconducting chips, which only work at extremely low temperatures (around -200°C or 77 Kelvin).

  • “It is one of the coldest places in the universe, colder than you’d find in outer space or really anywhere else.”
    — Julian Kelly [07:30]

Future Visions:

• By 2045, quantum computing could revolutionize drug discovery, food production, the energy economy, and more.

  • “It will enable us to discover drugs more efficiently. It will help us make food production more efficient ... to produce energy, to transport energy, to store energy ... to build technologies that make life more pleasant for all of us.”
    — Hartmut Neven [07:52]

Timestamps for Major Segments

• Opening / CPI & Inflation Overview: [00:01]
• Core CPI & Market Reaction (Jeffrey Cleveland): [00:34]–[02:11]
• Earnings & Credit Card Rate Debate: [02:13]–[04:02]
• Offshore Wind Project Ruling: [04:02]–[04:41]
• Quantum Lab Tour, Google (BBC): [05:11]–[08:19]

Memorable Moments/Quotes

• “They’re going to look at food and say, hey, no, this is a problem.”
  — Jeffrey Cleveland [01:57]
• “The problem is that it just wouldn’t be profitable for banks and they would cut back on lending dramatically.”
  — Ted Rossman [02:59]
• “A benchmark computation ... took just a few minutes here on the Willow chip, but it would have taken ten septillion years ... on today’s top supercomputer.”
  — Hartmut Neven [06:37]

Summary Takeaways

• U.S. inflation is steady but still above Fed targets; Wall Street is relieved it hasn’t accelerated.
• Food prices are a pain point for everyday Americans.
• The debate over capping credit card interest rates is heated, with questions about legality, profitability, and access to credit.
• Clean energy projects are finding support in the courts against security-based challenges.
• Quantum computing may soon make today’s supercomputers look obsolete — with immense practical potential on the horizon.

This episode offers a snapshot of inflation concerns, policy debate, energy law, and the next big thing in technology in less than 10 minutes.