Government / Politics

The stock market is down, but you don't need to be

NPR | By Darian Woods,

Wailin Wong, Cooper Katz McKim, Kate Concannon

Published March 12, 2025 at 2:00 PM CDT

Traders working on the NYSE floor following the worst day for markets in 2025.

Government cuts. Tariff uncertainty. Sticky interest rates. These are not helping the tumbling stock market. There's a sinking feeling among some Americans that a crash is imminent.

But ... should we all be so worried? Today, we brush away the cobwebs of stock market fear and confusion, and bring some long-held facts to the surface.

Related episodes:
Why to look twice when your portfolio is doing well (Apple / Spotify)
The cautionary tale of a recovering day trading addict (Apple / Spotify)

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Darian Woods

Darian Woods is a co-host of The Indicator from Planet Money.

See stories by Darian Woods

Wailin Wong

Wailin Wong is a co-host of The Indicator from Planet Money.

Cooper Katz McKim

Cooper Katz McKim produces NPR's daily economics podcast The Indicator from Planet Money. Before The Indicator, McKim reported at NPR Member stations in South Carolina and Wyoming. At Wyoming Public Radio, he filed stories with NPR's Environment And Energy Collaborative on bankruptcies, carbon capture and economic transition. He's won a national Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Use of Sound. More recently, he's served as a podcast producer at Sports Illustrated and the HISTORY Channel. He's a graduate of Tufts University. [Copyright 2024 NPR]

Kate Concannon

Kate Concannon is the Supervising Senior Editor at The Indicator from Planet Money. She leads this small, collaborative team of hosts, reporters and producers in making sense of crucial, but often complex and confusing, economic news in just 10 minutes a day.