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Doors take us to summers away. Or

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winter adventures. And

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afternoon getaways. Your

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dedicated Fidelity Advisor can help you open those

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all of us at Marketplace, thank you to

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those who stepped up to join our community

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that means so much. It's not

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investor. Just go to marketplace.org/donate. Thanks

0:51

again. What

0:55

is the Trump trade? I'm

0:58

David Brancatier. This is supposed to be a quiet

1:01

week for finance people one foot out

1:03

the door with the holiday. But we're

1:05

hearing of multiple Zoom calls by financial

1:07

services companies to brief

1:09

big investors on the politics of the

1:11

moment. After President Biden's low-rated performance in

1:13

the debate the other night, will he

1:15

stay in the race? Will he go?

1:18

And what does that mean for growth,

1:20

interest rates, tariffs? Indeed, analysts say what

1:22

is called the Trump trade may

1:24

have been driving up interest rates earlier this

1:26

week. Analyst Susan Schmidt is

1:28

with the State of Wisconsin Investment Board.

1:31

The Trump trade is really, I think,

1:34

centering on inflation and also just general

1:36

price levels. Remember

1:38

that during the debate and general stance of the

1:40

Trump presidency is that

1:42

there will be tariffs on imports coming in. Tariffs

1:45

mean prices go up. Prices go up imply

1:47

inflation. And when we have higher interest

1:49

rates, the price of bonds come down. We're

1:52

starting to see that, and that's a little bit of

1:54

the expectation that maybe we're still going to be facing

1:57

higher price levels overall. Yeah,

1:59

nice. see that other analysts see it

2:01

differently if the tariffs really do go

2:04

up in a Trump presidency, could drag

2:06

the economy down, which could bring interest

2:08

rates down, but we'll see. But that's

2:10

the Trump trade. Now, the

2:12

payroll company, ADP, has its private

2:15

sector payroll report that comes out

2:17

today. It was a tad weaker

2:19

than expected. I'm sure you're tracking

2:21

this. Everyone's tracking this. And

2:24

yes, tad lower than expected, but not

2:26

significantly so. And remember, this is private

2:28

payroll data, real data. The

2:30

government data comes out on Friday. So

2:33

focus on that data and we'll see how the

2:35

market receives it. A

2:38

farm lawn and home improvement chain

2:40

has immersed itself in America's culture

2:42

war this week. Tractor Supply Company

2:44

announced it would abandon most of

2:47

its diversity and climate advocacy goals.

2:49

Now the head of the National

2:51

Black Farmers Association is calling for

2:54

the resignation of Tractor Supply's CEO.

2:56

Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Gensler has more. Tractor

2:59

Supply bills itself as the largest

3:01

rural lifestyle retailer in the U.S.

3:03

It says it has more than

3:05

2,000 stores in 49 states. They

3:07

sell things like animal feed, lawn

3:09

and garden supplies, and power tools.

3:11

The stores are mostly in rural

3:13

areas. The company's climate and diversity

3:15

goals were part of an effort

3:17

to appeal to younger consumers. Just

3:19

last year Tractor Supply touted its

3:21

inclusion in Newsweek's list of America's

3:24

greatest workplaces for diversity. Then

3:26

came a backlash from conservative

3:28

activists on social media. So

3:30

last week, Tractor Supply did

3:32

a complete turnaround, issuing a

3:35

statement saying it heard from

3:37

customers who said Tractor Supply

3:39

had disappointed them. And so

3:41

it's eliminating its diversity, equity

3:43

and inclusion, where DEI roles.

3:45

It's also retiring its DEI

3:47

goals while, quote, still ensuring

3:49

a respectful environment. Tractor Supply

3:51

won't submit data anymore to

3:53

Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQ

3:55

advocacy group. The company is also

3:57

withdrawing from its carbon emission goals

4:00

Saying now it'll focus on land

4:02

and water conservation efforts. I'm Nancy

4:04

Marshall-Gensler for Marketplace. Speaking

4:07

of tractors, there's news this week John Deere

4:09

is cutting about 600 jobs in its factories

4:12

in the Midwest. The company known for

4:15

its construction, mining, and farm equipment has

4:17

seen sales slump this year along with

4:19

its competitors. John Deere is often seen

4:22

as a bellwether for the economy. Marketplace's

4:24

Megan McCarty Carino has that. Crackers

4:27

have less money to spend this

4:29

year because crop prices have gone

4:31

down, says Pat Westop, an agricultural

4:34

economist at the University of Missouri.

4:36

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

4:38

a lot of common themes. Over the

4:41

last couple years, the war in Ukraine

4:43

sent a shock through global grain markets.

4:46

Extreme weather affected some commodities and demand

4:48

was still soaring in the wake of

4:50

the pandemic. Since that time,

4:52

we've had some increases in global production

4:55

and prices have come back down again to the sort

4:57

of levels we saw prior to that

4:59

run-up. Kristen Owen, an analyst

5:02

at Oppenheimer, says these corrections are

5:04

often cyclical. We've historically

5:06

had these commodity cycles that are, call

5:08

it three years up, three years down.

5:11

And many farmers had already made hay

5:13

when the sun shone and bought all

5:15

the farm equipment they'll need for a

5:17

while. I'm Megan McCarty Carino

5:19

for Marketplace. Traveling,

5:35

volunteering, spending time with family?

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What's your retirement look like? wood income

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planning from Fidelity Wealth Management, a as dedicated

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advisor can help you you grow and your

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wealth. They'll look at your full financial picture

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5:51

care expenses. So you can stop

5:53

worrying about the future and enjoy whatever comes

5:55

next. Visit fidelity.com slash

5:58

income planning. minimum supply fidelity

6:00

brokerage services member NYSE's IPC. e c. Now

6:30

to organized video game competition,

6:32

the first e-sports world cup begins today eight

6:48

weeks in Saudi Arabia with a prize fund of

6:51

$60 million funded by

6:53

the Saudi government's public investment fund,

6:56

Imran Rahman Jones, with our newsroom partners

6:58

at the BBC, has that. With

7:00

some of the world's most popular games

7:03

on show, e-sports players will compete in

7:05

the likes of League of Legends, EAFC

7:07

and Call of Duty. But

7:10

the tournament has drawn criticism because

7:12

of Saudi Arabia's human rights record

7:14

and its attitude to women and

7:16

LGBT plus people. With

7:18

so much prize money on offer

7:21

amid a post-pandemic downturn for the

7:23

industry, the event could present the

7:25

start of a lucrative period for

7:27

e-sports. When

7:46

Trento von Lindenberg started his own independent game

7:48

studio last year, he wanted to

7:51

capture the fun and zaniness of his home

7:53

state with a game called Floridail

7:55

Man, the joy of chaos. be

8:00

able to create weird things.

8:03

The character of Floridale Man works for

8:05

a grocery store chain called Hublix and

8:08

races around sunny Florida having fun. Players

8:12

move around the game world causing chaos

8:14

by finding random items and putting them

8:17

together creatively. If I combine this golf

8:19

bag from the mini golf course and

8:23

a cannon, that will turn it

8:25

into a golf bag that shoots

8:27

golf clubs at things. Floridale

8:29

Man is the first game from Von

8:32

Lindenberg's new company, Moldbreaker

8:34

Interactive. It's a

8:36

team of just 9 game developers working

8:38

together. Remotely. They're

8:40

part of a growing trend of smaller game

8:42

development studios that have cropped up over the

8:44

past decade. YouTube essayist

8:47

and self-described video game pundit,

8:49

Jacob Geller, says the indie

8:51

games they're developing are popular.

8:54

Games made for a much lower

8:56

budget by much fewer people, sometimes

8:59

one person. Big game publishing

9:01

companies like Microsoft and Sony made

9:03

huge investments during the pandemic when

9:05

the industry was hot, gobbling

9:07

up studios and intellectual property. But

9:10

player numbers dwindled once COVID restrictions wore

9:12

off. Publishers closed

9:14

some game studios and laid off thousands

9:16

of developers to trim budgets. Some

9:19

laid off designers went on to create

9:21

their own independent game studios. Smaller

9:24

teams and new creators are

9:26

finding incredible success. At

9:29

this year's Summer Game Fest in Los

9:31

Angeles, host Jeff Keighley pointed to the

9:33

top 10 best-selling games so far this

9:36

year on an online marketplace. Two of

9:38

them are considered

9:40

big company games, but

9:42

the other eight come

9:44

from indie, mid-sized teams

9:46

or solo developers. He

9:49

says as big-budget games are more of

9:51

a gamble, more developers and gamers may

9:53

flock to the growing indie game scene.

9:56

In Miami, I'm Joshua Sivaios

9:58

for Marketplace. And

10:00

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

10:02

Report from

10:05

APM American Public Media. Hey

10:10

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

10:12

Uncomfortable, here to let you all know about

10:14

our summer book club. Every

10:16

other week, we're going to recommend a

10:18

book that our team loves that gets at

10:20

some uncomfortable topic around money, class, our

10:22

relationship to work. We'll

10:24

feature a wide range of recs, including

10:27

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

10:29

India, page turning novels like

10:31

Naomi Alderman's The Future, and

10:34

personal finance books like Paco de Leon's

10:36

Finance for the People. Join

10:38

This is Uncomfortable's book club by signing up

10:40

for our newsletter. Be

10:42

sure to sign up today

10:45

at marketplace.org/ book club.