Marketplace All-in-One

The yield on the 10-year treasury note has been moving up in the past month and approaching pre-pandemic levels. What does this mean? Investors want a higher payoff for putting their money in bonds. Julia Coronado helps us get a read on why this is happening. It turns out that SpaceX and Tesla leader Elon Musk won’t be joining Twitter’s board of directors after all. We check out the fastest-growing sports craze: Pickleball.

Though the prospect of Europe banning Russian oil seems far away, the executive office of the European Union is drafting proposals for an embargo to be part of the next wave of sanctions on Russia. Back in the U.S., a survey finds that even though workers are in an age of growing empowerment, it doesn’t mean they are any less stressed. The BBC reports on Mexico’s president easily winning a recall vote.

A vote to elect a new leader is underway in Pakistan’s parliament. Imran Khan was ousted in a long-awaited no-confidence vote over the weekend. The BBC’s Farhat Javed is watching that vote from the capital, Islamabad. Back in the U.S.: Twitter shares are down 4.3% ahead of the opening bell on Wall Street. That’s after the social network’s boss says despite earlier plans, Elon Musk will not join the company’s board of directors. The BBC’s James Clayton has more from San Francisco. And finally, Mexico’s president, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has easily won a referendum on whether he should step down or complete his six-year term. The BBC’s Will Grant travels to Chiapas state on the Guatemalan border to hear from his supporters and detractors.

The pandemic sent grocery shoppers online like never before, and federal food assistance programs are trying to keep up. The main food stamp program, known as SNAP, rolled out online shopping pre-pandemic, and it’s now available in almost every state. That hasn’t been the case for WIC, a similar program that gives credit to moms and kids for healthy foods, like milk, fruits and vegetables. The USDA started a pilot program late last year for WIC online shopping in a handful of states. Marketplace’s Meghan McCarty Carino speaks with Brian Dittmeier, senior director of public policy at the National WIC Association, which provides education and advocacy. He said it will be years before the program expands nationwide, but it’s important that it does.

Alabama’s governor signed two bills into law on Friday: One criminalizes providing gender-affirming care for transgender youth, and the other requires students to use restrooms according to the gender on their birth certificate. We’ll discuss the business and economic consequences of new anti-transgender legislation across the nation. Plus, we catch up on the work behind the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 insurrection. Then we’ll send you off into the weekend with a round of This or That!

Here’s everything we talked about today:

Got a question for the hosts? Email us at [email protected] or leave us a voice message at 508-827-6278 or 508-U-B-SMART.

Prices were already on the rise before the war in Ukraine, but the United Nations finds that global food prices have reached an all-time high. Now, people in developing countries, who spend proportionately more on food, are at increased risk of hunger as their governments seek alternative suppliers. Plus, a look at Russia’s profits from natural gas sales to Europe, the home health care crisis and the ripple effects of the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes.

We invited you, valued listeners, to share your suggestions for what music we should include in our shows. You know, the bits of songs that we run as bridges or grace notes. (They’re not random, they’re curated by our experienced team!) Anyway, our invitation for submissions sure did get a big response. And now, here, it’s time to reveal what you chose and hear the stories behind your selections. Take a listen to hear from three members of the Marketplace Morning Report audience. And if you’re looking for the list of all the songs that were submitted, you can find that on Spotify here.

Walmart has announced it’s raising the starting salaries for its long-haul truck drivers to as much as $110,000 per year. This comes amid ongoing supply chain problems, a strong labor market, and a shortage of truckers in the U.S. Walmart had already been an industry leader in paying its drivers, but what does this mean for other companies? A look at what the newest consumer debt numbers can tell us about spending and the economy. Colleges and universities are using funding from the American Rescue Plan to assist students in paying for basic needs like transportation and childcare.

The House and Senate have passed legislation to strip Russia and Belarus of their “most favored nation” trade status. Congress has also affirmed President Biden’s order banning U.S. imports of Russian crude oil and related products. It’s now headed to the White House for Biden’s final signature. What do these measures mean amid continuing Western sanctions on Russia over its war in Ukraine? A new report from Facebook parent company Meta looks into rising disinformation online, and how Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could be one reason for the increase. We invited all of our valued listeners to share suggestions for the music we play on our program — hear some of our favorite tunes.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is in London today, meeting British prime minister Boris Johnson. The two leaders are expected to discuss strategies for ending Europe’s reliance on Russian fossil fuels. The BBC’s Damien McGuinness in Berlin explains that, as a large consumer of Russian oil and gas, Germany finds itself in an increasingly tough position. And French voters will vote in the first round of the presidential election this Sunday. In many parts of the country, youth unemployment is a big issue for voters, so the BBC’s Theo Leggett has traveled to France to find out more about the issue.