Hey, hope you’ve had a great week. Today’s newsletter has a lot of stories about housing: Who has it, what goes into building it, how we pay for it and how to rebuild better after a natural disaster.

That’s all below, but before we get into it I want to tell you: It’s been a challenging year since public media lost all federal funding, but thanks to support from listeners like you, we’ve been able to keep bringing you the best in paywall-free business news.

That means a lot to me, and if it means something to you I hope you’ll consider making a donation of any size to our fall fundraising drive. Every bit helps, and for the next couple days you can get our new baseball cap with just a one-time $25 donation. Have a great weekend!  — Tony Wagner, newsletter editor

It was once a truism that as the price of copper rises, so does the outlook for the global economy because copper is used in so many different industries. In fact, people in financial circles have taken to calling it “Dr. Copper,” joking that it must have a PhD in economics because it’s so good at predicting the future.

Copper prices have been on the rise lately — up 45% this year, and hitting a record high earlier this month. But it’s not the reliable indicator it once was.

“[Historically] if you saw sort of uptick in demands for copper, you said, ‘Oh, OK, right. We're building more houses. We're building more cars, right? So things must be going well in the economy,’” said Ian Lange, an economist at Colorado School of Mines.

While manufacturers do still use copper in cars and houses and appliances, “in the world of 2026, it's really more about the strategic end uses,” said Jacob White, director of ETF product management at Sprott Asset Management.

These days, tons of copper goes into data centers, electricity infrastructure, and defense systems. And because it’s being used for “strategic” industries, the price of copper is a bit less tied to broader ups and downs in the economy.

“When electricity grids, for example, or AI data centers or defense programs are procuring copper, it doesn't necessarily matter to them that copper is at an all-time high,” White said.

It isn’t just demand keeping that price high, though.

Turns out Ohio is the place to launch a career, at least according to the job search site Monster.

It ranked the best cities for young workers based on housing affordability and job prospects. Nine out of the top 10 are in the Great Lakes region, and five are in Ohio.

“When you look at Ohio, it has major hubs for education, for meds, aerospace, technology,” said Vicki Salemi, the career expert at Monster who wrote the report.

Salemi used to be a job recruiter who remembers sifting through piles of resumes. She said the piles were much higher in New York City and other major hubs. “I wish the candidates knew to apply to these outliers because there's less competition,” she said.

Less competition translates to a much healthier job market.

“We have had sub-3.5% unemployment now for 3.5 years running, and that's even lower for those with college degrees,” said Baiju Shah, president of a northeast Ohio regional chamber of commerce.

His organization, the Greater Cleveland Partnership, puts on a career fair called CollegeFest at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame every year to help employers find young people to fill entry-level jobs.

“Talent is the issue when you've been running below 3.5% unemployment for three years, and you've got no end in sight to your demand,” Shah said.

Cleveland earned the number five spot on Monster’s list. But recruiters say a job offer is not enough to lock in an early-career employee for the long term. What comes after that first job is a top concern for entry-level workers who decide to stay.

My family’s worst day of last year was when our house burned down in a California firestorm. The second-worst day when we heard from a state official that rebuilding averages three to five years.

After a sudden surge of hoisting and bolting at our burned property, I am increasingly confident we will beat that grim timetable.

For the rebuild, my wife Mary Brancaccio and I are going for the three Bs: Bulwark against what extreme weather driven by climate change throws at us, Biophilic materials rooted in nature, and Beautiful — because we have to live in it.

For us, cross-laminated timber fits that bill. CLT, as it's called, is made of wood panels the size of garage doors, shaped in a sawmill to our specifications, then trucked in for assembly on site. It is a way to prefab a custom house and tests show the stuff is thick enough to resist intense flame.

Here are two other Bs: “Blistering Briskness.” The panels went up fast. I had figured two weeks for our small one-story house. From start to finish a crew framed in the house in three days flat.

To be clear: Our walls and ceilings are up, but we cannot move in tomorrow. We need a roof, doors, windows for starters. Plumbing would be a nice touch. But if the stars align we could spend our first night in our rebuilt house early next year — not three to five years after the fire, but close to the two-year anniversary of the Altadena disaster.

Peloton, the pandemic phenom that’s had trouble in recent years selling its fancy exercise bikes and classes, is now all in on running.

The company announced a $2,195 folding treadmill to go along with its bikes, rowing machine and more expensive, non-foldable treadmill. But running is surging because of people getting out there. The so-called third running boom has seen millions sign up for far-flung marathons, and young people signing up for run clubs that are focused on social health as much as physical health.

“Gen Zers are all over that,” Jan Seeley, race director for the Illinois Marathon, told Marketplace’s Caitlin Tan. “These social running clubs are kind of an alternative to dating apps.”

Will those same young professionals shell out for a “Tread Flex” come winter? I’m not sure.

I’m also not sure about this song selection, by the way. If Jamie xx’s dance beats are not your speed there’s the spare original, and the jazzy remix Makayla McCraven made years after Gil Scott-Heron’s death — he had much bigger things on his mind than Peloton’s business model, to be sure.