Hello and welcome to Background Briefing, available 24-7 at Background Briefing.org.

I'm Ian Masters, and today we will examine a number of stories and issues in the news.

We'll begin with the markets recovering today after Monday's sell-off

with the Wall Street Journal reporting the worst April since 1932.

As gold reaches a record high, we look into Trump's self-inflicted wound on our economy

as the bond market and the dollar tumble, as investors

around the world retreat from what was the world's leading economy just a few months ago.

Joining us is J.W. Mason, a senior fellow at the Groundwork Collaborative and a former fellow

at the Roosevelt Institution and a professor of economics of the John

J. College of the City University of New York, where his research focuses on macroeconomics,

finance, economic history, the history of economic thought, and international finance and trade.

He was previously the policy director for the New York State Working Families Party.

Then, as world leaders prepared to go to Rome for the Pope's funeral on Saturday,

joining us from Rome is Kate McElwee, who currently serves as the executive director of the

Women's Ordination Conference, where she has worked since 2011.

She is a respected activist and advocate for gender equity in the Catholic Church and her work is frequently featured in international media

outlets including the BBC Associated Press, the New Yorker and the National Catholic Reporter.

We will discuss the secretive succession process underway

as a conclave prepares to select a new pope

with possible candidates from the global South in the mix

following the death of the first non-European Pope Francis.

Then finally, on this Earth Day,

...