John Ydstie
John Ydstie has covered the economy, Wall Street, and the Federal Reserve at NPR for nearly three decades. Over the years, NPR has also employed Ydstie's reporting skills to cover major stories like the aftermath of Sept. 11, Hurricane Katrina, the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. He was a lead reporter in NPR's coverage of the global financial crisis and the Great Recession, as well as the network's coverage of President Trump's economic policies. Ydstie has also been a guest host on the NPR news programs Morning Edition, All Things Considered, and Weekend Edition. Ydstie stepped back from full-time reporting in late 2018, but plans to continue to contribute to NPR through part-time assignments and work on special projects.
During 1991 and 1992, Ydstie was NPR's bureau chief in London. He traveled throughout Europe covering, among other things, the breakup of the Soviet Union and attempts to move Europe toward closer political and economic union. He accompanied U.S. businessmen exploring investment opportunities in Russia as the Soviet Union was crumbling. He was on the scene in The Netherlands when European leaders approved the Maastricht Treaty, which created the European Union.
In August 1990, Ydstie was one of the first reporters on the scene after Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army invaded Kuwait. He accompanied U.S. troops to Saudi Arabia as a member of the Pentagon press pool sent to cover the Iraqi invasion for U.S. media outlets.
Ydstie has been with NPR since 1979. For two years, he was an associate producer responsible for Midwest coverage. In 1982, he became senior editor on NPR's Washington Desk, overseeing coverage of the federal government, American politics, and economics. In 1984, Ydstie joined Morning Edition as the show's senior editor, and later was promoted to the position of executive producer. In 1988, he became NPR's economics correspondent.
During his tenure with NPR, Ydstie has won numerous awards. He was a member of the NPR team that received the George Foster Peabody Award for its coverage of Sept. 11. Ydstie's reporting from Saudi Arabia helped NPR win the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award in 1991 for coverage of the Gulf War. In 2016, Ydstie received a Gerald Loeb Award for financial reporting for his contributions to an NPR series on financial planning.
Prior to joining NPR, Ydstie was a reporter and producer at Minnesota Public Radio. Ydstie is a graduate of Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, where he is now on the Board of Regents. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree, summa cum laude, with a major in English literature and a minor in speech communications. Ydstie was born in Minneapolis and grew up in rural North Dakota.
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The jobs report released Friday morning came in a little weaker than expected, but there was one very big positive. Wages are growing at a respectable clip again, and that's the first time that's happened on an annual basis since the recession.
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The Labor Department releases its August jobs report on Friday. Most economists predict a net increase of 180,000 jobs — a good number that likely will allow the unemployment rate to tick lower.
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The Justice Department and a number of states filed suit today to block two big mergers in the health insurance industry. Anthem was planning to acquire Cigna, and Aetna sought to buy Humana. Justice Department officials said they had no doubt the mergers would reduce competition and hurt consumers.
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Under the terms of the nearly $15 billion deal announced on Tuesday, Volkswagen will spend up to $10 billion to fix or buy back cars of nearly 500,000 owners.
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Two-thirds of the sum will be set aside to compensate U.S. owners of nearly 500,000 VW diesel cars. The company will also pay $2.7 billion into an environmental remediation fund.
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Job growth was at a crawl in May, according to the government's monthly report released Friday; only 38,000 new jobs were added to payrolls. But unemployment fell to it's lowest level since 2007.
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On Friday, the Labor Department releases May's jobs report. It's the final report before the Federal Open Market Committee's next meeting, at which some expect the federal funds rate will be raised.
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Banks around the world are being warned to review their computer security systems. SWIFT, the Brussels-based organization that facilitates bank-to-bank transfers, told banking clients of another cyberattack, this time on a commercial bank. In February, hackers managed to steal $81 million from the central bank of Bangladesh.
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After months of negotiations, Volkswagen has reached a deal with U.S. authorities on most of the cars involved in its diesel emissions scandal. The agreement covers nearly 500,000 2-liter engine cars. Owners will get to choose between having VW buy back their vehicles or having their cars fixed. But owners still don't know how much VW will offer in the buyback, or what the terms of a fix will be.
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Global organizations have been trying to rein in the abuse that costs governments hundreds of billions of dollars. But the Panama Papers revelations show the extent to which more work is needed.
