A bite-sized show about big ideas. From the people who make Planet Money , The Indicator helps you make sense of what's happening in today's economy. It's a quick hit of insight into money, work, and business. Monday through Friday, in 10 minutes or less. Sign up for our newsletter . Support public media by joining NPR+ at plus.npr.org. You’ll get perks for over 25 NPR podcasts, including bonus episodes for Planet Money and sponsor-free listening for The Indicator.
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This week’s indicators: EV sales sputter in North America but flutter internationally; U.S. Treasury Yields … RISE!; a low-budget movie so terrible, it became a box office hit in China. Fact checking by Julia Ritchey Your Next Listen — The story of China and Hollywood's big-screen romance Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s weekly newsletter ! — Buy the Planet Money book —…
Bankruptcy has a negative stigma surrounding it. But what if we told you it’s not as bad as you may think? In fact, economists think we should actually see more of it! Based on the radio story: More Americans are going bankrupt. What does that mean? Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — We're in a renter's market (believe it or not) Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The…
The best manager isn’t necessarily the best employee. Turns out it isn't so easy to predict what DOES make a good manager. Today on the show, we turn to science to help answer that very question. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — Productivity and workforce whiplash Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s weekly newsletter ! — Buy the Planet Money book — Find our…
The Trump Organization has sued Capital One for closing its bank accounts. The organization says it did so out of political reasons. But banks can close accounts for a zillion reasons. They don’t have to say why. Capital One cited money laundering as a concern. On today’s show, how banks decide to close accounts, how much politics plays a role and what the bank might have seen in its…
Fenwick Island, Del. has only around 900 people on its voting rolls, but some of those registered voters are not human. Many are family trusts and a few are companies. The town says its system works for its tiny beach community. So why are some lawmakers trying to stop it? Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — Who’s behind that shell company? Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for…
It’s Indicators of the Week! On today’s episode: Retirees get a bump in benefits; credit card debt delinquency at a historically high level; and the dating app Bumble on a serious decline — Men first! IRL events! What will work! Fact checking by Cooper Katz McKim and Vito Emanuel. Your Next Listen — Trying to fix the dating app backlash Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s…
Which letter best describes how the U.S. economy is shaped: C or K? We examine the arguments for both and why there’s so much disagreement over who’s faring best in today’s economy. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — We resolve to watch these 2026 indicators Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s weekly newsletter ! — Buy the Planet Money book — Find our socials,…
Rage. That’s what consumers are feeling right now. A new survey found consumer complaints hit a record high this year. Another from last year found a huge share of consumers felt ‘rage’ with a product or service problem. Just think about the modern consumer experience: hidden fees, ballooning customer support wait times (perpetually experiencing higher call volumes than usual) … shrinkflation!…
The total amount of investors using margin aka borrowing money to help pay for a trade is at an all time high of over $1.5 trillion. Is this something we should worry about? We spoke to Jurrien Tinner at Fidelity Investments. Note: Jurrien Timmer's views are his own and not representative of Fidelity. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — How AI might mess with financial markets…
President Trump is no fan of wind farms. And his administration is putting taxpayer money where his mouth is, paying companies billions of dollars to NOT build them. On today’s show, Trump’s plan to squelch wind farms with the public purse. Fact checking by Tyler Jones. Your Next Listen — Wind boom, wind bust (Two Windicators) Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s brand new…
Dependable health insurance is keeping more people in their jobs. Rising health costs don't help. Today we look at the repercussions this kind of job lock has on the wider economy. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — The ghosts of Obamacare past, present and future Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s weekly newsletter ! — Buy the Planet Money book — Find our…
Taco Bell and Taylor Farms are taking hits to their reputation due to the cyclosporiasis outbreak across the country. They could learn a thing or two from Chipotle, which went through its own public relations battle during a similar outbreak about a decade ago. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — Big Lettuce meets Small Intestine Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The…
What happens when roughly a million people working legally in the U.S. suddenly lose that right to stay here? We’re starting to find out in places like Miami, Florida, home to one of the largest Haitian communities in the country. There, we talk to people on what the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) means for their businesses and the wider economy. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next…
Shortages are in the news again! Here’s why the supply of blood, water and helium are at concerningly low levels. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — How Colorado towns are trying to get some water certainty Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s weekly newsletter ! — Buy the Planet Money book — Find our socials, YouTube and more ! Support public media with NPR+…
Musicians from the Rolling Stones to up-and-coming pop star Bella Kay have one thing in common: Influencers are being paid to promote their songs . On today's show: Who is an industry plant and why does it matter? Fact checking by Tyler Jones. Your Next Listen — Two Indicators: the influencer industry Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s weekly newsletter ! — Buy the Planet…
It’s Indicators of the Week! On today’s episode: The inner workings of Mamdani’s marts; how much Americans gamble; and Gen-Z aren’t the sober generation we’ve been led to believe! Fact checking by Corey Bridges. Your Next Listen — Is gambling the reason we have pro sports? Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s brand new newsletter — Find our socials, YouTube and more ! — For…
President Trump’s social media company, Truth Social, wants to sell investors early access to its posts. When Trump announces tariffs or new strikes on Iran, those milliseconds matter in the market. Is this corruption? Is this legal? And what does corruption mean for the U.S. economy? Ray Fisman’s book with Miriam A. Golden is Corruption: What Everyone Needs to Know . Fact checking by Tyler Jones.…
For decades, consumer tech like laptops and gaming systems got better AND cheaper. Memory shortages caused by the AI boom are making those lower prices a thing of the past. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — SK Hynix to the moon, Gen-Z to their rooms, and Connecticut tax reform looms Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s weekly newsletter ! — Buy the Planet…
The U.S. housing market is pretty weird right now. Whether you’re a buyer, seller or a renter, it leads to all kinds of questions, like: How did we end up with a housing shortage? Is housing still a good investment? What policies might unlock the housing inventory held by baby boomers? So we called up someone with answers: Redfin’s chief economist, Daryl Fairweather. On today’s show, your housing…
We have some grievances. Economic ones. And we’re airing them out. On today’s show: Redeeming fast food rewards points in airports, not knowing the full price of your meal upfront, and the pen-and-paper restaurant bill slowdown. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — Three beefs: U.S. and Brazil, Taco Bell and liability, Waymo and trial lawyers Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for…
It’s Indicators of the Week! Today on the show: Brazil’s fast payments system that’s got the Trump administration huffy, why Taco Bell might be liable for their role in cyclospora infections and why some lawyers are lobbying against driverless cars. Fact checking by Emma Ferrara and Corey Bridges. Your Next Listen — Can I get my tariff money back now? Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The…
Paramount’s $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. Discovery has a few hurdles ahead of it. One of them is an FCC approval. But a recent investigation shows that Paramount and the FCC have a dubious relationship, one with potential conflicts of interest. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — Why Paramount went looney tunes for Warner Bros. Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The…
Biz-friendly Texas is opening a stock exchange, built and based in the state. Can it become—or best—Wall Street? And how has politics influenced the birth of Y’all Street? Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — ESG bans cost Texas Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s weekly newsletter ! — Buy the Planet Money book — Find our socials, YouTube and more ! — For…
The formerly sleepy economies of suburban Austin, Texas and Syracuse, NY are getting two new semiconductor chip plants. They’re bringing thousands of jobs and dollars to the area but while Austin’s housing market seems to be handling the change well, Syracuse is in the midst of an affordability crisis. On today’s show, why? Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — A solution to the…
Why has the Food and Drug Administration taken so long to approve new sunscreens? Unlike the rest of the world, the FDA only just approved its first new ingredient in nearly three decades. We learn about a proposal to speed up drug and sunscreen innovation, and a skincare influencer who lobbied for change. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — The sneaky way companies get new…
In the summer of 2020, sixteen-year-old Antonio Mays Jr. traveled a thousand miles to join the racial justice movement of his generation in the wake of George Floyd's killing. Antonio arrived in Seattle during the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest, known as CHOP. Less than a week later, he was shot and killed there. The case remains unsolved. In this eight-part series, hosts Sydney Brownstone of The…
It’s Indicators of the Week (now on YouTube !). On today’s episode: What happened to Trump’s proposed Strait of Hormuz fee?; China’s pollution takes a dip … and maybe solves a mystery?; IMAX is expensive. But BIG. (For our eyes and theater owners.) Fact checking by Julia Ritchey and Cooper Katz McKim. Your Next Listen — The curious rise of novelty popcorn buckets Connect with The Indicator — Sign…
Over 100 years ago, Pope Leo XIII wrote a seminal letter encouraging workers to unionize in the face of industrialization. The current Pope Leo XIV in his seminal letter warned of an economic disruption from today that threatens workers - Artificial Intelligence. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — Jobs numbers, immigrants in healthcare, and ... Jesus Christ? Connect with The…
Many Gulf states like the United Arab Emirates are diversifying away from oil, but how do you actually measure that? After China resumed buying American soybeans, what are farmers doing now? And is your neighbor paying less for their car than you? Today on the show, we explore YOUR listener questions. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez & Emma Ferrara. Your Next Listen — What do farmers do in a trade…
AI summaries are gaining traction and making the potential for a “zero click web” increasingly real. What does that mean for the internet as we know it today? Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — AI is pumping out books. Are they any good? Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s brand new newsletter — Buy the Planet Money book — Find our socials, YouTube and more !…
About one in 20 car loans made to young people are in serious delinquency. That’s the highest rate since the global financial crisis. Today on the show, former FDIC chair Sheila Bair answers young listeners' car buying questions. Sheila Bair’s book is How Not to Lose a Million Dollars: A Young Person's Guide to Avoiding the Tricks and Traps of Our Financial System Fact checking by Sierra Juarez .…
It’s Indicators of the Week (now on YouTube !). On today’s episode: You could’ve septupled your money if you invested in this scalding-hot South Korean memory chip stock; nearly half of all adults under 30 are moving back in with the ‘rents; and a new democracy is born … in Connecticut. Fact checking by Julia Ritchey and Corey Bridges. Your Next Listen — Why Americans don't want to move for jobs…
When it comes to AI, Google’s Gemini does not have the same household recognition that Claude and ChatGPT do. One big explanation: the innovator’s dilemma. We explain how Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis is trying to fight a lumbering company’s constraints to build AI superintelligence. Sebastian Mallaby’s book is The Infinity Machine: Demis Hassabis, DeepMind, and the Quest for…
Too much news, there’s just too much news. Today on the show, we tackle three big stories we’re following: Venezuela’s ever-increasing debt problem, the real story behind high egg prices, and how gaming companies are paying the pied piper. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — What the cluck is happening with egg prices? Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s brand…
Depends on where you live, but renters have a lot of power right now in the United States. What’s behind this trend and how might you be able to take advantage of the renters’ market at your next lease renewal. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — Corporate landlords aren't the real villain Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s brand new newsletter — Buy the…
The US defense industry is struggling to keep up with the revolution in cheap drones vs. expensive reusable military equipment. Today on the show, we talk with Stacie Pettyjohn, the director of the Defense Program at the Center for a New American Security on the three big reasons the U.S. is falling behind. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — How Iran is wasting American resources…
How do residents of the South Side of Chicago feel about their new neighbor: the Obama Presidential Center? A mixture of pride and excitement, tempered with some concerns about what it could do to housing affordability. On today’s show, we’re bringing you an episode from our friends at Code Switch on the new center and its relationship to the historically Black neighborhoods around it. Connect…
Last month, new Fed Chair Kevin Warsh presided over his first interest rate decision and press conference … but he didn't talk much about maximum employment. How much does Kevin Warsh care about the jobs side of the Fed’s dual mandate? Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — Are we in a new era of permanently higher prices? Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s brand…
During President Donald Trump’s first term, he touted the USMCA as the largest and most fair trade deal ever achieved. So why is he now talking about ‘terminating’ it? Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — Are Trump’s trade deals the real deal? Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s brand new newsletter — Buy the Planet Money book — Find our socials, YouTube and…
If war is so costly, why do we keep fighting them? We dig into the wars in Iran, Ukraine and Gaza to understand the incentives that lead countries into violence. Today on the show, the five factors that lead to war. Chris Blattman’s book is Why We Fight: The Roots of War and the Paths to Peace . Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — The new economic arms race Connect with The…
For many of the 43 million Americans with federal student loans, July 1 is a day to mark on the calendar . Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act is introducing stricter borrowing caps and new repayment plans. Today on the show, we talk with NPR’s Education Reporter Cory Turner about the impact. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — Will new loan limits lower the cost of grad sch ool?…
It’s Indicators of the Week (now on YouTube !). On today’s episode: The effect of GLP-1s on women and the workplace ; NYC’s once flailing office space is BACK; your boss asking you to come back to the office miiiight be a narcissist . Fact checking by Emma Ferrara and Corey Bridges. Your Next Listen — Why GLP-1s aren't lowering employers' costs Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The…
Are all these AI books any good? And by good, we mean are people willing to buy them — not whether the prose is singing. We talk to two researchers who’ve got some answers and a travel guide expert on why AI can’t replace first-hand experience. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — Human certification in the age of AI slop Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s…
In 2019, Juan Hernandez was laid off from SpaceX. Luckily, he still had the opportunity to buy $50K - $60K of the company’s stock and, years later, it’s safe to say the risk was worth it. Today on the show, how stock options built California as a tech hub. Fact-checking by Emma Ferrara. Your Next Listen — Do traders who make big bets make big money? Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The…
A plan to create a new $250—with President Donald Trump’s face on it—has created a lot of pushback. Who probably won’t be pushing back, though? Criminals. On today’s show, we explain why. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — Trump crypto, Trump ballroom and Trump drones Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s brand new newsletter — Buy the Planet Money book — Find…
It’s time for The Indicator Quiz! We test you, dear listener, on your knowledge of topics that we’ve covered on The Indicator. For today's quiz show, we are putting an urban planner from Nevada to the test. Play along with us and see how you do! Are you interested in being a contestant on our next Indicator Quiz? Email us your name and phone number at indicator@npr.org and put "Indicator Quiz" in…
You pick up your phone to do one quick task, and suddenly 20 minutes have flown by without you even noticing. How do apps do that to you? Today on the show, we bring you an episode of Short Wave that explains how your phone is designed specifically to hold your attention. Fact checking by Tyler Jones. Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s brand new newsletter — Buy the Planet…
Inflation is at a three-year high. That’s a problem for the Fed. Yet, under the leadership of new chair Kevin Warsh, it opted yesterday not to hike interest rates. So today on the show, who are the winners and who are the losers amidst higher inflation? Mark Blyth’s book, co-authored with Nicolò Fraccaroli is Inflation: A Guide for Users and Losers . Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next…
To hear author David Bockino tell it, gambling has always been a key ingredient of pro sports in the U.S.—it’s as American as apple pie. Bockino is the author of the new book Over/Under: An Unexpected History of Sports Betting . So what gave rise to this new wave of sports gambling? And what are we risking placing so many bets on games? Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen —…
The Trump Administration recently announced changes to how would-be immigrants get green cards. And it’s causing a lot of confusion, fear and even panic. Today on the show, we hear firsthand from people navigating green card uncertainty. Fact checking by Sierra Juarez . Your Next Listen — If economists controlled the borders Connect with The Indicator — Sign up for The Indicator’s brand new…
