Kimberly Adams

And the S&P 500 fell 103 points, 1.5%, to end at 66.72.

Gig workers are getting hit hard by the price of gas right now.

which is up 22% nationwide over the past month.

And so are the companies that make the gig platforms.

Uber Technologies lost 2.7%, Lyft also declined 2.7%.

Bonds fell, the yield on the 10-year T-note rose to 4.26%, and you're listening to Marketplace.

There's a lot going on right now.

Mounting economic inequality, threats to democracy, environmental disaster, the sour stench of chaos in the air.

I'm Brooke Gladstone, host of WNYC's On the Media.

Want to understand the reasons and the meanings of the narratives that led us here and maybe how to head them off at the pass?

That's On the Media's specialty.

Take a listen wherever you get your podcasts.

This is Marketplace.

I'm Kimberly Adams.

The Census Bureau dropped some new housing numbers this morning.

Single-family housing starts at the beginning of this year were down 2.8 percent compared to December.

why new home building has been such a slog and what changes in construction loan interest rates could mean for the market going forward.

There are two big reasons why single-family starts have been slow, says Odetta Cushy at First American.

For buyers on the demand side, she says, well, mortgage rates have come down a little bit.

When we zoom out, we can still see it's a very challenging affordability environment.