Yet another stockpile scramble
4/23/202625 min
Business activity growth soared in April, according to S&P Global’s purchasing managers index. The topline number might sound rosy, but experts think the growth spurt is really a sign of fear. In this episode, why businesses spent month two of the war in Iran stockpiling goods. Plus: Avis experiences a stock market “short squeeze,” business owners apply for the first round of tariff refunds, and we look back at the 1970s to understand the economics of oil price caps.
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[upbeat music] Coming up on the program today, a short Wall Street tutorial. We'll talk factories and we'll talk price caps, and we will pour one out for Florida oranges. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace. [upbeat music] In Los Angeles, I'm Kai Ryssdal. It is Thursday today. This one is the twenty-third of April. Good as it always is to have you along, everybody. Wall Street was in a yeah, maybe war is not so great mood today. Equities fell, the price action, as traders like to say, mostly to the downside. The bigger picture we will do at that spot in the program where we always do the bigger picture. But we begin today with a single company and its roller coaster of a month. Avis