Marketplace®

Daily business news and economic stories
BBC Marketplace Senior Producer

Stephen Ryan

Senior Producer, BBC World Service/Marketplace (in London)

Latest from Stephen Ryan

  • Happy birthday, Clean Water Act
    Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images

    The act, instituted in 1972, turns 50 today. We measure its impact thus far. Stifel Financial’s Lindsey Piegza helps dish out some market perspective. Then, we dive more into the difficult job landscape that awaits people who’ve been incarcerated.

    Read More
  • Someone who spent time behind bars shares perspective of the job market
    Drew Angerer/Getty Images

    First, the U.S. plans to sell more oil to help dial back gas prices. Then, a Miami-based realtor opens up about his struggles finding employment after doing time in prison. 

    Read More
  • Clara Mattei, author of "The Capital Order," argues government attempts to impose austerity reflect a deeper history of labor force suppression.
    Getty Images

    From the BBC World Service: Natural gas prices have spiked since the Kremlin limited supplies to European Union countries. The European Commission is outlining measures to try and control high energy prices. Plus, China delays publishing key economic data during the Communist Party Congress. And, why a city in Uganda has banned women from sitting in the front cabin of trucks.

    Read More
  • Today’s a tax deadline, which could be an October surprise for some
    Joe Raedle/Getty Images

    For those who asked for a six-month extension on filing 2021 tax returns, today’s the deadline. Julia Coronado discusses market activity with us. It’s costing more and more to stay in a hotel these days.

    Read More
  • A look at China at a time of slower growth
    Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

    We break down some of the significance of the national congress of the Chinese Communist Party, which is underway. Our latest subject for Econ Extra Credit got us thinking about the concept of classic, bottom-to-the-top upward mobility in corporations. 

    Read More
  • New U.K. finance minister Jeremy Hunt says bringing forward measures from an economic plan on 31 October is designed to calm financial turmoil.
    Leon Neal

    From the BBC World Service: Days into his new job, the new U.K. finance minister Jeremy Hunt hopes to appease volatile markets, unsettled by his predecessors plan for tax cuts. Plus, the United Nations Children’s Agency says the war and rising inflation have pushed 4 million children into poverty across eastern Europe and central Asia. And, the female farmers in Sierra Leone who are transforming swamp land to grow rice.

    Read More
  • Special: Secret Money, Public Influence
    Getty Images

    This election cycle, “Marketplace Morning Report” traveled to Arizona, where, in less than a month, voters will decide whether some of the biggest campaign spenders should have to reveal their true identities. How this measure got on the ballot, what it hopes to achieve and what opponents say about it provide lessons about the so-called dark money that can sway elections near you. We look at the consequences of hidden political spending for everyday people, with a case study of higher electric bills for Arizonans. We also explore how a citizen-led ballot initiative could change the rules and the pushback from those who believe there’s a right to anonymity as part of the right to free speech. And, what it takes to get one of these ballot measures in front of voters and where else across the country we’re seeing an effort to curb this mystery money.

    Read More
  • The economic saga in Britain includes another policy U-turn
    Photo by Daniel Leal - WPA Pool/Getty Images

    Also, the finance minister is out. It’s been a chaotic day there, and Victoria Craig from the BBC catches us up. We discuss more market chaos with Christopher Low of FHN Financial. Also, data shows that people remain unafraid to keep buying things in the face of inflation and other upsetting economic factors.

    Read More
  • What a union between Kroger and Albertsons could mean
    Scott Olson/Getty Images

    One factor to consider in all this grocery merger talk? The presence of Walmart. Elsewhere, Texas is the jumping-off point for a tale of how states are trying to “claw back” unemployment benefits – and how people are reacting to it.

    Read More
  • Battle between Bank of England and British government intensifies
    Carl Court/AFP/GettyImages

    From the BBC World Service: The Bank of England’s short-term rescue plan to stabilize the government debt market ends today, and it appears to have worked. But while bond yields have fallen, the political drama has continued with Prime Minister Liz Truss expected to backtrack on her plans for unfunded tax cuts. Plus, with China’s President Xi Xinping in line for an historic third term at the Communist Party Congress, we hear from an area in the north of the country said to have been lifted out of poverty.

    Read More