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Jo Critcher

Latest from Jo Critcher

  • Consumers would suffer if U.S. defaults on debt, says IMF chief
    Samuel Corum/Getty Images

    Consumers in the U.S. would likely suffer economic pain if Congress fails to raise the debt ceiling, warned International Monetary Fund head Kristalina Georgieva. If it happens, she warned that people could be stuck paying higher interest rates on things like mortgages, car loans and credit cards. Amid Netflix customers’ ire at the coming crackdown on password sharing, new research shows that consumers are frustrated by the high number of different streaming services on offer. And, a trip to the Maryland Zoo, which is having to spend millions to update structures constructed in a different time with different sensibilities about animals. 

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  • Syrian rescue teams search for survivors after the recent catastrophic earthquake.
    Louai Beshara/AFP via Getty Images

    From the BBC World Service: More than 1,000 people have been killed and over 5,000 wounded after one of the most powerful earthquakes to hit the region in decades. It has left aid organisations calling for financial aid and other forms assistance. Plus, it’s another week of strikes in the UK and today marks the biggest in the history of the health service as thousands of nurses and ambulance workers walk out over pay. We look at why no pay deals have been agreed after months of unrest. And, how strong is your coffee? New research has found caffeine levels vary widely among the big brands.

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  • On cue, job gains blow past expectations
    Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

    This morning’s jobs report is out, and the number was staggering — 517,000 jobs added relative to the 187,000 that economists expected. FHN Financial Chief Economist Christopher Low breaks down how to interpret the numbers. The tech sector is in rough shape, and this earnings season’s results are confirming how deep the malaise goes. And, the state of Tennessee is rejecting millions of dollars in federal HIV aid partly because it wants to deny funding to abortion providers like Planned Parenthood. 

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  • Regulators eye reducing credit card late fees
    Joe Raedle/Getty Images

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is proposing a further limiting of credit card late fees, which the agency says could save consumers around $9 billion per year. The big U.S. job report is out today, and it showed a huge increase in the number of jobs added to the economy. And, the G7 collection of nations plus the EU are tightening their oil ban on Russia. 

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  • G7 ramp up oil sanctions against Russia
    Angelos Tzortzinis/AFP

    From the BBC World Service: From Sunday the G7 group of leading economies will ban the import from Russia of refined oil products like diesel, and impose a price cap on exports elsewhere. It follows a similar move in December on crude oil shipments. But what will it do to supplies? And how will it affect prices at the pump? Plus, we hear from a shopkeeper in Hong Kong who has had to ditch all her CBD stock in response to new laws. And, why teenagers in the U.K. are clamouring for a new drink called Prime.

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  • Why are investors bullish on Meta again?
    Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images

    Meta released its quarterly earnings yesterday, posting dismal results that showed the company took in only half the profits earned last year. But investors are bullish for a number of reasons, including cost-cutting measures and good signs that Facebook is doing well. A new report shows that undergraduate college enrollment is stabilizing after prolonged declines, but not for majors that lead to careers in health care. And, a new agreement between the U.S., Netherlands, and Japan will further restrict the flow of advanced microchips to China. 

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  • Looking to learn about economics? Start with inequality
    Scott Heins via Getty Images

    Any student studying introductory economics could tell you about traditional concepts like efficiency, production functions, and others. But there’s one essential concept that’s often glossed over: economic inequality. As part of our Marketplace Crash Course series, we spoke with Homa Zarghamee, professor of economics at Barnard College, about inequality and why it’s important to learn about. And, a look into why the Fed chose to raise rates by a quarter-point yesterday.

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  • From the BBC World Service: The war in Ukraine and responses to it pushed oil and gas prices to record highs in 2022. It’s meant bumper profits for the world’s oil majors, and today was Shell’s turn with profits of $40bn. But what is it doing with the windfall? Plus, the Indian conglomerate Adani group continues to see its share price collapse after a highly critical report by the U.S. short seller Hindenburg Research. The company’s boss Gautam Adani has lost the title of Asia’s richest man, but he’s fighting back insisting the business is “robust”.

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  • The Fed is about to make a lot less money for the government
    Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

    The Federal Reserve has been one of the largest single sources of revenue in recent years for the federal government. But now, thanks to low returns on assets and high borrowing costs, the central bank is set to be much less profitable. We check in on markets ahead of today’s Fed rate decision with Susan Schmidt, Head of Public Equities at the State of Wisconsin Investment Fund. And, Western states sharing water resources from the Colorado River have again blown past a federal deadline to cut water usage after California held out on a deal.

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  • Chip shortage no longer — there’s now a glut
    Jens Schlueter/AFP via Getty Images

    No longer facing the blistering demand for microchips seeing during the peak of the pandemic, chip-making giants like AMD and Intel are seeing their profits decrease. We look into what that says about the wider malaise seen in the tech sector. The BBC reports on one 22-year-old Princeton student’s tool to detect AI-generated text. And, an early farewell to the iconic Boeing 747, which formally stopped being produced this week. 

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