Novosafo

The hypothetical from Citrini Research, written in a think piece widely circulated among Wall Street analysts and investors, painted a nightmare scenario in which AI displaced white-collar jobs throughout the economy in areas far beyond software, technology, and financial firms, which have recently faced a sell-off.

The paper talked of AI agents looking to save consumers money, creating a race to the bottom in fees, prices, and various middleman costs, including cutting out credit card transactions and using cryptocurrencies, which would hit MasterCard and Visa.

One Wall Street analyst said he was forwarded the paper around 10 times.

And many of the names mentioned in the hypothetical experienced a steep sell-off in shares, including DoorDash down 6.5% and Capital One down nearly 9%.

Wall Street has been concerned about the speed of artificial intelligence advancements and how they might filter among industries that have yet to prepare for those disruptions.

I'm Novosafo for Marketplace.

Inflation cooled this winter, but will it warm up in the spring?

For Marketplace, I'm Novosafo, and for David Brancaccio.

Later this week, we'll get the latest reading of the Federal Reserve's preferred inflation gauge, the Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index.

We already have some encouraging news for January.

A separate measure, the Consumer Price Index, rose at a lower-than-expected pace of 2.4% on an annual basis.

But the devils in the details sent us out those details.

We're joined by Lauren Seidel-Baker of ITR Economics.

Welcome.

Thank you.

So Friday's report, was that encouraging to you?

So a lot of the pullback in inflation on Friday was attributed to lower energy prices.

Gasoline prices are down more than 3%.

Other costs, though, are still going up, right?

Now, the Wall Street Journal was out with a story that a lot of companies are planning on more price increases due to tariffs after pausing during the holiday shopping season.