0:01

From all of us at Marketplace, thank you

0:03

to those who stepped up to join our

0:05

community of Marketplace investors at the end of

0:07

our budget year. Your support

0:09

empowers us to continue making everyone

0:12

smarter about the economy. And

0:14

that means so much. It's not too late

0:16

to become a Marketplace investor. Just go to

0:18

marketplace.org. Thanks again. What

0:25

is the Trump trade? I'm

0:28

David Brancaccio. This is supposed to be a quiet

0:30

week for finance people, one foot out the door

0:33

with the holiday. But we're hearing

0:35

of multiple Zoom calls by financial services

0:37

companies to brief big investors on the

0:39

politics of the moment. After President Biden's

0:42

low-rated performance in the debate the other

0:44

night. Will he stay in the race?

0:46

Will he go? And what does that

0:49

mean for growth, interest rates, tariffs? Indeed,

0:51

analysts say what is called the Trump

0:53

trade may have been driving up interest

0:55

rates earlier this week. Analyst

0:58

Susan Schmidt is with the state of

1:00

Wisconsin Investment Board. The Trump

1:02

trade is really, I think, centering

1:04

on inflation and also just general

1:06

price levels. Remember that

1:08

during the debate and general stance of the

1:10

Trump presidency is that there will be tariffs

1:12

on imports coming in. Tariffs

1:15

mean prices go up. Prices go up

1:17

imply inflation. And when we have

1:19

higher interest rates, the price of bonds come

1:21

down. We're starting to see that and that's

1:23

a little bit of the expectation that maybe

1:26

we're still going to be facing higher price

1:28

levels overall. Yeah, and I

1:30

see that other analysts see it differently.

1:32

If the tariffs really do go up

1:34

in a Trump presidency, it could drag

1:36

the economy down, which could bring interest

1:38

rates down. But we'll see. But

1:40

that's the Trump trade. Now, the

1:42

payroll company ADP has its private

1:44

sector payroll report that comes out

1:47

today. It was a tad weaker

1:49

than expected. I'm sure you're tracking

1:51

this. Everyone's tracking this. And

1:53

yes, a tad lower than expected, but

1:56

not significantly so. And remember, this is

1:58

private payroll data. data,

2:00

the government data comes out on Friday.

2:02

So focus on that data and we'll

2:04

see how the market receives it. A

2:07

farm lawn and home improvement chain

2:10

has immersed itself in America's culture

2:12

war this week. Tractor Supply Company

2:14

announced it would abandon most of

2:17

its diversity and climate advocacy goals.

2:19

Now the head of the National

2:21

Black Farmers Association is calling for

2:24

the resignation of Tractor Supply's CEO,

2:26

Marketplaces Nancy Marshall-Gensler has more. Tractor

2:29

Supply bills itself as the largest

2:31

rural lifestyle retailer in the U.S.

2:33

It says it has more than

2:35

2,000 stores in 49 states. They

2:37

sell things like animal feed, lawn

2:39

and garden supplies, and power tools.

2:41

The stores are mostly in rural

2:43

areas. The company's climate and diversity

2:46

goals were part of an effort

2:48

to appeal to younger consumers. Just

2:50

last year, Tractor Supply touted its

2:52

inclusion in Newsweek's list of America's

2:54

greatest workplaces for diversity. Then

2:56

came a backlash from conservative activists

2:59

on social media. So last week,

3:01

Tractor Supply did a complete turnaround,

3:03

issuing a statement saying it heard

3:05

from customers who said Tractor Supply

3:08

had disappointed them. And so it's

3:10

eliminating its diversity, equity and inclusion,

3:12

or DEI, roles. It's also retiring

3:15

its DEI goals, while

3:17

quote, still ensuring a respectful

3:19

environment. Tractor Supply won't submit

3:21

data anymore to the Human

3:23

Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ advocacy

3:25

group. The company is also

3:27

withdrawing from its carbon emission

3:29

goals, saying now it'll focus

3:31

on land and water conservation efforts.

3:33

I'm Nancy Marshall-Gensler for Marketplace.

3:37

Speaking of tractors, there's news this week. John

3:39

Deere is cutting about 600 jobs in its

3:42

factories in the Midwest. The company, known

3:44

for its construction, mining and farm equipment,

3:46

has seen sales slump this year, along

3:49

with its competitors. John Deere is often

3:51

seen as a bellwether for the economy.

3:53

Marketplaces' Megan McCarty Carino has that. Farmers

3:57

have less money to spend this year

3:59

because Crop prices have gone

4:01

down, says Pat Westhoff, an agricultural

4:03

economist at the University of Missouri.

4:06

There's a different story for every crop, of course, but there's

4:08

a lot of common themes. Over the

4:11

last couple years, the war in Ukraine

4:13

sent a shock through global grain markets.

4:16

Extreme weather affected some commodities, and demand

4:18

was still soaring in the wake of

4:20

the pandemic. Since that time,

4:22

we've had some increases in global production, and

4:24

prices have come back down again to the

4:26

sort of levels we saw prior

4:29

to that run-up. Kristen Owen,

4:31

an analyst at Oppenheimer, says these

4:33

corrections are often cyclical. We've

4:35

historically had these commodity cycles that are,

4:38

call it, three years up, three years

4:40

down. And many farmers had

4:42

already made hay when the sun shone

4:44

and bought all the farm equipment they'll

4:46

need for a while. I'm

4:48

Megan McCurdy-Corino for Marketplace. Hey,

5:03

everyone, it's Rima Hrace, host of This is

5:06

Uncomfortable, here to let you all know about

5:08

our summer book club. Every

5:10

other week, we're going to recommend a

5:12

book that our team loves, that gets

5:14

at some uncomfortable topic around money, class,

5:16

our relationship to work. We'll

5:18

feature a wide range of recs, including

5:20

classics like E.M. to

5:23

India, page-turning novels like

5:25

Naomi Alderman's The Future, and

5:28

personal finance books like Paco de

5:30

Leon's Finance for the People. Join

5:32

This is Uncomfortable's book club by signing up for

5:35

our newsletter. Be sure

5:37

to sign up today at

5:39

marketplace.org/ book club. Now

5:43

to organized video game competition. The

5:45

first Esports World Cup begins today,

5:47

eight weeks in Saudi Arabia, with

5:49

a prize fund of $60 million,

5:52

funded by the Saudi government's public

5:54

investment fund. Imran Rahman-Jones

5:56

with our newsroom partners at the BBC

5:59

has that. With some of

6:01

the world's most popular games on show,

6:03

esports players will compete in the likes

6:06

of League of Legends, EAFC and Call

6:08

of Duty. But the

6:10

tournament has drawn criticism because of

6:12

Saudi Arabia's human rights record and

6:14

its attitude to women and LGBT

6:16

plus people. With so

6:19

much prize money on offer amid

6:21

a post-pandemic downturn for the industry,

6:23

the event could present the start

6:25

of a lucrative period for esports.

6:28

While video gaming is bigger than movies

6:30

and music combined, the industry has

6:32

been retrenching in the last year,

6:34

bringing layoffs, the closing of some

6:36

studios and more. But

6:38

amid the turbulence, independent game

6:41

studios are gaining some traction.

6:43

WLRN's Joshua Sabaios has more.

6:46

When Trento von Lindenberg started his own

6:48

independent game studio last year, he

6:50

wanted to capture the fun and zaniness of

6:52

his home state with a game

6:54

called Florida Man, The Joy

6:57

of Chaos. So throughout the game,

6:59

players will be able to

7:01

create weird things. The character

7:03

of Florida Man works for a grocery

7:06

store chain called Hublix and

7:08

races around sunny Florida having fun. Players

7:12

move around the game world causing chaos

7:14

by finding random items and putting them

7:16

together creatively. If

7:18

I combine this golf bag from the mini

7:20

golf course and a cannon,

7:24

that will turn it into a golf

7:27

bag that shoots golf clubs at things. Florida

7:29

Man is the first game from von

7:32

Lindenberg's new company, Moldbreaker

7:34

Interactive. It's a team

7:36

of just nine game developers working together,

7:39

remotely. They're part of a growing

7:41

trend of smaller game development studios that have cropped

7:43

up over the past decade. YouTube

7:46

essayist and self-described video game

7:48

pundit, Jacob Geller, says the indie

7:50

games they're developing are popular.

7:53

Games made for a much

7:55

lower budget by much fewer people,

7:58

sometimes one person. Big

8:00

game publishing companies like Microsoft and

8:02

Sony made huge investments during the

8:04

pandemic when the industry was hot,

8:07

gobbling up studios and intellectual property.

8:10

But player numbers dwindled once COVID restrictions

8:12

wore off. Publishers closed

8:14

some game studios and laid off thousands

8:16

of developers to trim budgets. Some

8:19

laid off designers went on to create

8:21

their own independent game studios. Smaller

8:24

teams and new creators are

8:26

finding incredible success. At

8:29

this year's Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles,

8:31

host Jeff Keighley pointed to the top 10

8:34

best-selling games so far this year

8:36

on an online marketplace. Two of

8:38

them are considered

8:40

big company games, but

8:42

the other eight come

8:44

from indie, mid-sized teams,

8:46

or solo developers. He

8:49

says as big-budget games are more of

8:51

a gamble, more developers and gamers may

8:53

flock to the growing indie game scene.

8:56

In Miami, I'm Joshua Ceballos

8:58

for Marketplace. And

9:00

I'm David Brancaccio. It's the Marketplace Morning

9:02

Report from

9:05

APM American Public Media. Hey,

9:09

everyone. It's Rima Hrace, host of This is

9:12

Uncomfortable, here to let you all know about

9:14

our Summer Book Club. Every

9:16

other week, we're going to recommend a

9:18

book that our team loves that gets

9:20

at some uncomfortable topic around money, class,

9:22

our relationship to work. We'll

9:24

feature a wide range of recs, including

9:27

classics like E.M. Forrester's A Passage to

9:29

India, page-turning novels like

9:31

Naomi Alderman's The Future, and

9:34

personal finance books like Paco de

9:36

Leon's Finance for the People. Join

9:38

This is Uncomfortable's book club by signing up

9:40

for our newsletter. Be sure

9:43

to sign up today at marketplace.org

9:46

book club.