Why the dollar is falling
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From Marketplace, I'm Sabri Beneshour, in for David Brancaccio. The U.S. dollar is down more than 1% this morning. It hit a three-year low. It may be a sign that investors around the world are wondering if our currency is still as safe as they once thought, given President Trump's trade wars and his threats to the independence of the Federal Reserve. Marketplace's Nancy Marshall-Genzer has more.

Traders were already losing their appetite for dollars, partly because of uncertainty over President Trump's tariffs. Then last week on Truth Social, Trump talked about Fed Chair Jerome Powell's, quote, termination. It's not clear if Trump was talking about the expiration of Powell's term as chair next year or whether Trump intends to try to fire Powell. Julia Coronado is president and founder of Macro Policy Perspectives and a

professor at UT Austin. She says either way, Trump's comments are weighing on the greenback. This is certainly a concern if the trade war will cause inflation and the Fed is saying they won't necessarily be able to cut rates if that is the case. And the president then threatens to remove the Fed chair. Well, that certainly only adds to the concerns that there will be an unstable and inflationary environment in the United States.

Coronado says overseas investors want a stable dollar because if the greenback falls, so does the value of all the investments they've made in dollars. She says the dollar will keep falling if traders shy away and invest in other countries' currencies, which they think are more stable. I'm Nancy Marshall-Genzer for Marketplace.

Capital One and Discover are all set to combine. Federal antitrust regulators have said it's okay. The two companies say they'll merge by mid-May. This would create one of the nation's biggest banks, and that bank would own one of the nation's four credit payment networks. Marketplace's Nova Sappho has more. Capital One and Discover say the Federal Reserve and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency have given final regulatory approvals for the bank's $35 billion tie-up.

They expect to complete their merger by mid-May and say customers will initially experience no changes. Eventually, the two companies say combining will help the Discover payment network better compete against rivals Visa, MasterCard, and American Express. The companies say Discover now makes up less than 4% of total credit card purchase volume annually in the nation.

The merger comes as retailers, especially restaurants, complain about rising swipe fees, which are consuming an increasing chunk of their bottom lines, especially the bigger fees charged for higher-end credit cards, ones tied to rewards programs. Two advocacy groups criticized the Capital One Discover merger as anti-competitive, and the National Community Reinvestment Coalition called on state attorneys general to sue to block the deal. I'm Novosafo for Marketplace.

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Credit, the ability to borrow, has, over time, expanded to more people. Borrowing options, once limited to the wealthy, have gradually found their way to people who are not so wealthy. But in this world of widely available credit, the costs of going into debt are often hidden by the marketing over how convenient it is to buy now, pay later. It's a world in which many older people are particularly vulnerable. Marketplace's Senior Economics Contributor Chris Farrell has more.

Borrowing and taking out credit is something that most adults have in common. But paying the bill for accumulated debts can weigh heavily on older Americans of modest means. The debt payment pressure compounds if they're living on a fixed income, such as Social Security.

Odette Williamson, senior attorney with the National Consumer Law Center, says several factors taken together have contributed to the rise in debt by older adults. Among them? Odette Williamson, senior attorney with the National Consumer Law Center, says several factors taken together have contributed to the rise in debt by older adults.

And it has to do with the fact that older adults are aging with just fewer resources. Before we had pensions, now not a lot of people have that. And so they're just aging with fewer, less income and more debt. Tanya Brinson is the owner of SLAP Financial Consulting. SLAP stands for Sounds Like a Plan. I also want to put an emphasis on those who are most vulnerable because

The low income seniors, you know, the black and brown elders, women and those without pension benefits. And then you have to be realistic about.

You know, those systemic factors, for instance, those racial wealth gaps, the wage gaps, the caregiving responsibilities, the medical debt disparities and lack of access to retirement planning. You know, these all compound over a lifetime and become debt in later later years for that population.

Debt also reflects that it's easier than ever to borrow. The story of consumer finance is one of increased access, more choice, and greater household risk. If you look at the innovation in financial markets, a lot of innovation is on the borrowing and debt side. It's very much left to the borrower to decide the amount to borrow.

Right. So there is a lot more supply and it's very easy to borrow. Ana Maria Lussardi is director of the Initiative for Financial Decision Making at Stanford University. We have more access to mortgages, to credit cards, to many forms of debt. Recently, buy now, pay later.

And so this might have also given rise, therefore, to indeed taking up more debt. But some of this debt might be problematic. Debt makes it harder to save while working and drains scarce resources when retired. I'm Chris Farrell for Marketplace.

Our Buy Now, Pay Later project is in partnership with Next Avenue, a non-profit news platform for older adults produced by Twin Cities PBS. In New York, I'm Sabri Beneshour with the Marketplace Morning Report. From APM American Public Media.

Some people see sustainable investing as a meaningful tool in the fight against climate change. Others call it woke capitalism. I'm Amy Scott, host of How We Survive, a podcast from Marketplace. And this week, the team heads to Texas, where a backlash against climate-conscious investing took root. I essentially just said if you boycott fossil fuels, you can't do business with the state of Texas. And we'll look at the dark money behind the attack.

Listen to How We Survive wherever you get your podcasts.