Support the fact-based journalism you rely on with a donation to Marketplace today. Give Now!

Rebalancing the S&P 500 means a whole lot of trades

Mar 15, 2019
Friday was one of the four times a year when the S&P 500 rebalances itself. This means that some stocks leave this index and some come in. This also means that all the indixes and exchange-traded funds that track the S&P 500 (and there’s many) have to also rebalance themselves to reflect the changes. S&P […]
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

There's yet another proposal to get the government out of the mortgage-guarantee business

Feb 4, 2019
One of the last big unresolved issues from the financial crisis is what to do about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Together with government-owned Ginnie Mae, they own or guarantee more than half the home loans in the country. Fannie and Freddie have been under conservatorship — bascially government protection and control — since 2008, […]
Mortgage finance company Freddie Mac says rates on 30-year fixed mortgages fell below 3% this week. For some people, that's a chance to refinance.
Win McNamee/Getty Images

The blockchain is coming to Wall Street

Jan 21, 2019
Future ICOs might start to look a lot more like old-fashioned stock
"We can have a much more seamless, actually transparent stock trading mechanism using blockchain," says Kristen Howell, a partner with the law firm Fox Rothschild who helps companies create initial coin offerings.
Petras Malukas/AFP/Getty Images

How Merriam-Webster “measures” volatility vs. the VIX

Jan 11, 2019
Searches for "volatility" rose 253 percent in 2018, according to data from Merriam-Webster.
Janet Nguyen/Marketplace

Here's why consumer sentiment is positive even while markets are tanking

Dec 21, 2018
By some economic measures, this has been a rough December. Stock prices? Falling. Markets? Volatile. Government? Might shut down. Interest rates? Gnashing of teeth. Recession coming? In the conversation. Consumers’ outlook on the economy? Improving. Wait, what? It’s true. Consumer sentiment rose in December. Why? Click the audio player above to hear the full story.

How Lyft's IPO could challenge Uber's dominance abroad

Dec 6, 2018
Uber’s valuation still dwarfs Lyft’s, as both companies prepare to go public in 2019.
A Lyft driver is waiting for a ride in the city on Feb. 3, 2016 in San Francisco, California. 
Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Lyft

For public good, not for profit.

Cryptocurrencies' collapse follows 2017 run, regulation threats

Nov 20, 2018
Down from its 1,400 percent rise in 2017, bitcoin is now trading at less than $5,000 — a sharp decline for what some once hoped was a new and promising asset that could excite institutional investors. Instead, many traders were just trying to make a quick buck. Click the audio player above to hear the […]
In this photo illustration a visual representation of the digital currency Bitcoin sinks into water. 
Photo Illustration by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

When Apple suffers, the pain is spread around

Nov 19, 2018
Shares of Apple took a hit Monday, declining 4 percent after the Wall Street Journal reported Apple has cut production orders in recent weeks for all three iPhone models launched earlier this year. When Apple runs into trouble, it tends to be a drag on many other companies and the market as a whole. Click the […]