← Marketplace Morning Report
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- [00:02]
David Brancaccio
There's gold in them, our portfolios. I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles. I'm looking at an ounce of gold this morning costing above $3,000. 3007, up 210 of a percent. Now people are buying. Amid uncertainty about the direction of markets and talk from the president of possible recession marketplaces, Nancy Marshall Genzer explains.
- [00:23]
Nancy Marshall Genzer
When investors are nervous or uncertain, they turn to gold. They they see it as a safe haven. There is a lot of uncertainty right now, fueled by fears of a global trade war. New steel and aluminum tariffs are now in effect and President Trump is threatening a 200% tariff on alcohol from the European Union. The on again, off again tariff fight makes it hard for investors to know where to put their money. Gold is also appealing to central banks, especially after some of Russia's foreign reserves in US Dollars were frozen after it invaded Ukraine. Russia's lukewar reaction to the ceasefire with Ukraine proposed by the US Also ratcheted up fears of increased geopolitical instability. And the value of the dollar is down. Gold is priced in dollars, so it's cheaper when the dollar falls. Stir in fears of a recession and falling stock prices and you have a recipe for a gold rally. I'm Nancy Marshall Genser for Marketplace.
- [01:23]
David Brancaccio
Sharp Stock market downturns can be salubrious. Good for your economic health. That's part of the message from Treasury Secretary Scott over the weekend. The widely owned S&P 500 index had fallen 10% from a recent peak by last week. The euphemism in the trade here is correction. Marketplace's Nova Safo has more.
- [01:42]
Nova Safo
Many Americans are worried that the Trump administration's tariff policies will trigger higher prices and a recession. There's no reason that it has to still. Treasury Secretary Scott Besant on NBC's Meet the Press over the weekend would not rule a recession out. The White House's apparent tolerance for economic pain is sending stock values plummeting, flirting with correction territory. But Besant promised a brighter future. Corrections are healthy. They're normal. What's not healthy is straight up that you get these euphoric markets. That's how you get a financial crisis. True corrections can be healthy. They reset overvalued stocks. But is this a healthy correction to be we're proceeding with maximum speed with minimum visibility. Julia Coronado is president and founder of Macro Policy Perspectives. The global economy is an ocean liner. It doesn't transform overnight. So we don't know how long this adjustment period could last. We do know how long market downturns can last. Historically corrections can last half a year and take another half to recover. That is if stocks don't keep falling into a bear market, which is down 20% or more. I'm Nova Safa for Marketplace.
- [02:57]
David Brancaccio
After a big bounce upward on Friday, the S and P stock index is down 8% from the recent peak and down 2.5% since President Trump was elected. This morning, S and P futures are down 2. 10%. If you want to be savvy about the economy, the Marketplace newsletter is just what you need. Every Friday you'll get explainers and analysis that make sense of everything from the moving markets to grocery prices. No jargon, no hype, just smart takes delivered to your inbox. Sign up today@Marketplace.org subscribe Nissan has hit a new milestone in its eight year quest for a self driving car in Britain. Nissan's working on an autonomous vehicle that could eventually be a London taxi or owned privately. You already can take a driverless Waymo taxi in Phoenix, San Fran and here in la. But what about those medieval, twisty parts of Britain? Here's the BBC's Theo Leggett.
- [04:22]
Theo Leggett
Brendan has set the route for the vehicle. So I'm just turning the ad system on and then activating it. The car is an electric Nissan Leaf. It's been developed by a consortium including Nissan, other private firms, research groups and government agencies. And it's being tried out on the narrow roads, potholes and blind bends that are so familiar in rural Britain. So this section is one of the long, sweeping, dynamic roads which really gets to showcase the cars ability. It's actually going quite fast. The project has been going for eight years. The test cars have covered 16,000 miles. They've learned to cope with motorways. They've been tried on some of London's busiest streets where they've even used roadside cameras to pick out hazards well in advance. And most recently they've been pounding along rural roads. Back in the workshop, the engineer leading the project, Bob Bateman, tells me how it all works. We've got a variety of sensors on this car, cameras and we've got laser guidance systems and we've got a radar as well. And all of this helps to support the self driving technology that we're trying to deliver in this car. Effectively the eyes and ears of the car to allow you to drive. It's certainly impressive though. Travelling at 60mph on bumpy roads in what amounts to a mobile computer is a little disconcerting at first. But what exactly is the point of it all? David Moss is Nissan's head of research and development in Europe, the Middle east and Africa. What we're looking to do is to provide technology that allows us to develop a mobility service. This means people who maybe can't drive or no longer want to drive or don't even have access to public transport are able to actually move around. Driverless taxis are already a reality in some parts of the world, in cities in the United States and China, for example. But they can only operate in carefully defined areas. And their performance hasn't always been flawless, as this man who ended up trapped doing circuits of a car park in Phoenix, Arizona found out. Okay, why is this happening to me on a Monday? I'm in a Waymo car. Welcome to Rider Support.
- [06:30]
David Brancaccio
This call may be recorded for quality assurance.
- [06:32]
Theo Leggett
This car is just going in circles. Meanwhile, door to door, self driving for private motorists remains a long way off. According to Professor David Bailey of Birmingham Business School. This is an important step forward. But we're not going to see, say, autonomous cars that can drive you anywhere probably until the back end of the next decade. So that's still some way away. True, self driving cars were once seen as science fiction.
- [06:55]
Nova Safo
You press a destination button on a dashboard route map and electronic controls take over.
- [07:01]
Theo Leggett
There is still a long way to go, but engineers insist they're now firmly on track to turn futuristic fantasy into into day to day reality. In London, I'm the BBC's Theo Leggett.
- [07:11]
David Brancaccio
For Marketplace and stock as in stock market, but also stock as in livestock, which in the mid-1600s referred to the movable property that are stores of value, typically farm animals. Starting tomorrow here a business reporter goes to the rodeo. I'm that business reporter. It's a massive show going on in Houston now for lessons on auctions on the labor market and agricultural credit from a high school senior on this program and then on YouTube and beyond. In Los Angeles, I'm David Brancaccio. Marketplace Morning Report from APM American Public Media.
- [07:50]
Janelie Espinal
Consumer confidence had its sharpest monthly decline since 2021, which means we're all in our feels about money. And while uncertainty is the only constant these days, it's also a great reason to get serious about understanding personal finance. I'm Janelie Espinal, host of Financially Inclined, a podcast from Marketplace that makes learning about money simple. Learn about practical skills like negotiating job offers, dealing with money and friendship and love, entrepreneurship and student loans. Get serious about your money and build a life you've always dreamed of. Listen to Financially Inclined wherever you get your podcasts.