Yuki Noguchi

Credit Emily Bogle / NPR

Yuki Noguchi joined NPR News in May 2008 as a correspondent. She is a general assignment reporter covering business for NPR's National Desk. She began reporting for NPR in Washington during hectic times, with the 2008 presidential race underway and as the economy started to experience severe turmoil. Her stories have ranged from declines in SUV sales at Carmax to profiles of important figures involved in the Wall Street bailout. Noguchi's pieces can be heard on Morning Edition, All Things Considered and Weekend Edition Sunday.

Before joining NPR, Noguchi worked at The Washington Post, first as a reporter and later as an editor. Starting in 1999, she covered economic development. Starting in 2000, she covered telecommunications and wrote stories about the major industry mergers, the Federal Communications Commission and the rise of some of the Internet giants. On the side, she also wrote about her love of swing dancing. Later, she covered consumer technology, writing features about people and their relationships with their gadgets. This was her favorite beat. Most recently, Noguchi directed the paper's coverage of national technology news. Prior to joining the Post, Noguchi reported on business and politics for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle and The Orlando Sentinel.

Noguchi's parents left Japan to study in the U.S. in the early 1970s. Noguchi and her younger brother grew up in St. Louis. She received her B.A. in history from Yale University. During a year off, she studied in Yokohama, Japan, and worked for Kyodo News Service in Tokyo. She is fluent in Japanese and speaks conversational German. She has forgotten the bulk of a class in Arabic.

Noguchi lives with her husband, Christopher Libertelli, in Bethesda, Maryland. Outside of NPR she practices yoga and still loves swing dancing.

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12:01am

Wed February 22, 2012
Business

New Consumer Agency Eyes Bank Overdraft Fees

Credit Mark Lennihan / AP

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau says it's looking to overhaul rules on overdraft fees. The new agency will be seeking data from banks about how they handle overdrawn accounts, and how they assess fees. The agency plans to use this information to help consumers limit their exposure to these costly charges.

The CFPB estimates that last year, banks made between $15 billion and $22 billion from overdraft fees.

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12:01am

Thu February 16, 2012
Law

Age Discrimination Suits Jump, But Wins Are Elusive

Originally published on Thu February 16, 2012 10:53 am

Credit Alex Wong / Getty Images

For older Americans looking for work, finding a job can be a tremendous challenge. Someone 55 or older will typically take three months longer to find employment than the average job seeker.

And with more people of all ages looking for work in the slow economy, age discrimination complaints are on the rise — but becoming harder to win.

Employment law experts say that has a lot to do with one particular case: Gross v. FBL Financial Services Inc.

'Persona Non Grata'

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3:00pm

Mon January 23, 2012
Business

RIM Announces Management Shake-Up

Research In Motion, the maker of Blackberry smart phones, used to be a dominant player. Now, it's looking like an also-ran. The company announced a management shake-up Monday, but the new guy won't have much time to pull off a turnaround.

12:01am

Wed January 18, 2012
Around the Nation

Cruise Ship Disaster Puts Focus On Safety Concerns

The dramatic Costa Concordia accident off the coast of Italy is calling attention to the regulation of the cruise line industry. Experts say there are plenty of rules, but enforcement can be spotty.

Some of the survivors of last week's disaster described the rescue effort as chaotic and disorganized. The crew had not yet conducted a required emergency drill during the cruise.

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12:01am

Thu January 12, 2012
Technology

Critics See 'Disaster' In Expansion Of Domain Names

Vast new tracts of the Internet are up for sale as of Thursday. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers, known as ICANN, is forging ahead with plans to sell new domain categories despite some vocal opposition from regulators and advertisers.

Forget .com or .org — for a registration fee of $185,000, applicants can register a new suffix like .music, or perhaps a brand like .NPR. If you think of the Internet as virtual land, new continents are now on the block.

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12:01am

Wed January 11, 2012
Your Money

Credit Card Arbitration Trumps Lawsuits, Court Says

Consumers who sign credit card agreements that feature an arbitration clause cannot dispute fees or charges in court, the Supreme Court ruled Tuesday. The 8-to-1 decision drew immediate fire from consumer advocates.

To get a credit card, a consumer generally must sign a detailed agreement. In the fine print, almost always, is an arbitration clause that says that if consumers want to dispute fees, they must do so through arbitration, not in court.

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12:01am

Thu January 5, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

The Real Holiday Party For Weight Loss Firms? It's Now

Credit Cindy Ord / Getty Images

The New Year is almost always happy for the weight-loss industry. When the holiday gorging ends, the resolutions to shed those extra pounds begin.

Weight Watchers North America president David Burwick says the first week of the year is the biggest week in what is typically his company's most profitable quarter.

"This is our Super Bowl," he says. "The first week of January is our Super Bowl for Weight Watchers."

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12:01am

Fri December 30, 2011
Business

Happy Holidays? Indeed, For Some Stuck At Work

Credit Sara Carothers / NPR

It's the last workweek of the year, and just about half of American workers have been in the office.

If that sounds like a drag, well, meet Louise Tucker-Mitchell.

She works for Enterprise Rent-A-Car at Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport. For her, at least, being stuck at work between the holidays is a secret pleasure.

Things are unusually quiet. Traffic is uncharacteristically light. "This is the free time when you can sort everything out and get it done," she says.

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3:42pm

Thu December 22, 2011
Business

'Twas The Busiest Week All Year For Shipping

Originally published on Thu December 22, 2011 7:36 pm

This week marks the busiest time of the year for shipping services like UPS, FedEx and the Postal Service. The post office handled 600 million cards and letters alone on Tuesday, and UPS says it is delivering 300 packages per second, on average.

At one FedEx facility in Washington, D.C., the logistics of last-minute shipping are on full display.

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4:00am

Fri December 9, 2011
U.S.

Corzine Claims No Knowledge Of MF Global's Missing Money

Former MF Global CEO Jon Corzine testified on Capitol Hill on Thursday day. The former New Jersey Senator and governor was subpoenaed by a congressional panel that wanted to hear how MF Global wound up in bankruptcy. Corzine apologized repeatedly but denied knowingly breaking any rules.

12:01am

Thu December 1, 2011
Economy

Recent Veterans Find Higher Jobless Rates On Return

The jobless rate has declined a bit in the last year, but among veterans who served in conflict since 2003, it is increasing. The unemployment rate for vets serving since the Iraq war began has risen 1.5 percentage points to more than 12 percent in the past year.

Many veterans say they face a tougher job market than civilians. Tom Tarantino spent a decade in the military, where he served in Iraq and led a platoon. But when he separated from the military in 2007, he spent nearly a year looking for a job.

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12:01am

Wed November 30, 2011
Business

The Search For Analysts To Make Sense Of 'Big Data'

Second in a two-part series

Businesses keep vast troves of data about things like online shopping behavior, or millions of changes in weather patterns, or trillions of financial transactions — information that goes by the generic name of big data.

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3:34am

Tue November 29, 2011
Technology

The Digital Breadcrumbs That Lead To Big Data

First of a two-part report

What do Facebook, Groupon and biotech firm Human Genome Sciences have in common? They all rely on massive amounts of data to design their products. Terabytes and even zettabytes of information about consumers or about genetic sequences can be harnessed and crunched.

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8:00am

Sat November 26, 2011
Business

Early Receipts Indicate A Happier Holiday Season

Originally published on Sat November 26, 2011 5:17 pm

Transcript

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The holiday shopping season started even earlier this year in hopes that consumers would spend more in these economic times. Macy's, Toy R Us, Target, all moved up their opening times - in some cases to Thanksgiving Day. Joining us now to talk about Black Friday is NPR correspondent Yuki Noguchi. You've been reporting the scenes in stores. What can you tell us about the volume of shopping?

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3:42pm

Fri November 25, 2011
Around the Nation

Black Friday Madness Sweeps Across The Country

Originally published on Sat November 26, 2011 7:08 am

By the time it opened at 9 p.m. Thursday night for Black Friday, the Toys R Us in New York City's Times Square had a line snaking around the corner from its entrance on 44th Street. It went on for two blocks.

Angela Jenkins was there with two of her girlfriends and no kids. "I left my boyfriend with all of our kids ... by himself," she says with a laugh.

"You gotta do what you gotta do," Jenkins says.

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12:01am

Wed November 16, 2011
Energy

Solyndra Highlights Long History Of Energy Subsidies

When Energy Secretary Steven Chu appears on Capitol Hill on Thursday to defend the Obama administration's solar energy subsidy program, he will face questions about the solar panel firm Solyndra, which went belly up this summer.

The Energy Department has drawn stiff criticism over a government loan guarantee program that lent the company half a billion dollars, but the government has a long history of subsidizing many forms of energy.

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4:00am

Mon November 14, 2011
Business

Analysts Have Rosy Outlook For 2011 Holiday Sales

Analysts are predicting a fairly good year for retailers over the holiday season. Those sales are expected to increase 3 percent overall and go up 15 percent for online retailers. Plus, this is the first year tablets like the iPad may make an impact on the retail landscape.

4:00am

Tue November 8, 2011
Business

Jon Corzine's Appetite For Hair-Raising Challenges

The sudden bankruptcy of commodities trading firm MF Global has thrust a familiar name in to the spotlight: Jon Corzine. Previously, Corzine was governor of New Jersey, a U.S. senator and chairman and CEO of the investment firm Goldman Sachs. Corzine resigned last week as chairman and CEO of MF Global as investigators search for hundreds of millions of dollars missing from clients' accounts.

8:43am

Fri November 4, 2011
Business

MF Global CEO Steps Down

Jon Corzine, the former governor and senator from New Jersey, has resigned from his post as head of MF Global. The company has been under scrutiny from regulators and investigators following its rapid decline and bankruptcy filing earlier this week.

4:34am

Fri October 28, 2011
Economy

The Rising Cost Of Doing Business With Greece

Credit Helga Csenki / iStockphoto.com

As details of the Greek debt deal passed by the European Union Wednesday are worked out, some businesses in the U.S. continue to grapple with the ripple effects of the prolonged debt crisis.

The EU hopes the debt deal will contain Europe's debt problems, and the problem countries will now start their work of implementing fiscal reforms — which has proved troublesome, especially in Greece.

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4:39pm

Fri October 21, 2011
Crisis In The Housing Market

A Bid To Bring Foreign Buyers To The Housing Market

Originally published on Fri October 21, 2011 8:10 pm

Credit Elaine Thompson / AP

Existing home sales and home prices declined last month, indicating the market remains in a slump. Now there's a proposal in Congress to try to change that. Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., introduced a bill Thursday that would grant U.S. tourist visas to foreign homebuyers paying with cash.

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4:00am

Tue October 18, 2011
Election 2012

Cain's 9-9-9 Plan Gets Positive Voter Reaction

Herman Cain's simplified tax plan has vaulted him into the spotlight and has sent his poll numbers soaring. But do people actually know much about the Republican presidential candidate's 9-9-9 tax plan, and how it would affect them?

12:01am

Thu October 13, 2011
Economy

U.S. Banks Can't Hide From Europe's Debt Crisis

Credit Sandor F. Szabo / iStockPhoto.com

For months now, Europe's debt crisis has hung ominously over the U.S. markets and economy. But even as U.S. banks begin lessening their investments in Europe, it remains difficult to quantify the threat they face.

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12:01am

Fri October 7, 2011
Economy

Long-Term Unemployment's Strain On The Job Search

Originally published on Fri October 7, 2011 12:05 pm

Credit Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Long-term joblessness is one of the unfortunate legacies of the recession. Earlier this year, the Labor Department started tracking longer periods of unemployment. According to that data, there are now more than 2 million people who have been jobless for at least two years, and 700,000 of those have been looking for work for at least three years.

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4:26am

Wed September 28, 2011
Economy

Recession A Tougher Hit For The Middle-Aged

Credit Chris Hondros / Getty Images

Joblessness can be particularly tough for those in middle age. The recession hit this age group hard, and they aren't getting rehired as quickly during the sluggish recovery.

Middle-aged workers face more financial demands than other age groups and are too young to retire, yet they also don't have as much time to work their way up again from the bottom rung like younger workers.

Networking For A New Job

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3:00pm

Fri September 23, 2011
Energy

Solyndra's Execs Take The Fifth

Top executives of Solyndra, a bankrupt solar-energy company, have declined to testify in a congressional hearing Friday, invoking their Fifth Amendment rights. The company is under investigation for a half-billion dollar government loan guarantee it received.

4:00am

Thu September 22, 2011
Business

Google Chief Defends Company's Search Practices

Google critics accuse the company of playing favorites with its search results. Google executives have always denied this, but the accusations haven't gone away. Eric Schmidt, the company's chairman, was on Capitol Hill Wednesday to answer questions about the company's business practices.

5:39pm

Wed September 14, 2011
Politics

Political Divide At Congressional Hearing On Solyndra

A congressional hearing on Tuesday over a company called Solyndra became a politically charged referendum on the administration's effort to promote green energy.

Until recently, Solyndra made solar panels. It received more than half a billion dollars in government loan guarantees back in 2009. Now, the company is in bankruptcy and is being investigated by the FBI.

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5:39pm

Fri September 9, 2011
Business

Earlier Stimulus Offers Lessons For A Second Round

President Obama called on legislators on Thursday to pass his American Jobs Act, which proposes billions of dollars in new spending on infrastructure.

"Building a world-class transportation system is part of what made us an economic superpower," Obama told a joint session of Congress.

It's difficult to say exactly how much additional infrastructure spending would take place if the president's plan is approved by Congress. But experts say examining how — and if — previous stimulus projects created jobs can help maximize results for this round.

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12:01am

Thu September 8, 2011
Business

Yahoo Must Search For A Clear Focus, Analysts Say

Yahoo's future is up in the air. Earlier this week, the Internet company's board of directors ousted its chief executive officer, Carol Bartz, who was hired two years ago to try to revitalize Yahoo.

Though it is still very profitable, Yahoo has been losing its relevance, and it is less clear where the company is headed.

Gregory Thune, an industrial designer in San Francisco, not far from the company's Sunnyvale campus, represents one of Yahoo's biggest problems: He's never once used Yahoo.

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