Power Players with Brian Sozzi

The year has turned a bit south for those heavy hitters in the private equity industry as Trump trade turmoil ratchets up angst with companies and top leaders. The value of global buyout deals in the second quarter of this year is poised to drop by 16% compared to the first quarter, according to a new report from consultancy Bain. For the first time in a decade, no buyout fund closed in the first...

Charting a path toward domination of the digital universe. Roblox is fresh off a better-than-expected first quarter as it gained traction in new gaming genres such as racing and sports amongst children over the age of 13. Sales, daily active users, and bookings all increased by double-digit percentages. Sales clocked in at $1.03 billion, up 29% from the prior year. Bookings—a measure of in-game cu...

The US economy is showing mixed trends at best as the Trump administration continues to overhaul the global trading system. First quarter GDP fell 0.3%, but is expected to bounce back slightly in the second quarter. Consumer confidence has been on a downtrend. And the world’s biggest consumer companies, including Walmart, Target, and Starbucks, have warned about sluggish spending trends by househo...

Wild movements in the bond market have been one of the biggest stories on Wall Street in 2025. In part, the climb in yields on US debt has reflected rising concerns about the country’s fiscal position. Those worries have now been compounded by a new Trump tax bill that promises to add trillions to the US’s already bloated deficit. While professionals say investors haven’t lost trust in the US’s ab...

What started 40 years ago as a company focused on "quality communications" by Irwin Jacobs has morphed into Qualcomm (QCOM) today. The company is one of the biggest players in the chip industry, supplying products to Apple (AAPL) to power its iPhone and to automakers to power their increasingly digital cockpits. The company's market cap stands at an impressive $163 billion. At the helm as CEO sinc...

Nothing lasts forever. And that old adage apparently applies to the once untouchable US credit rating. The US has lost its last triple-A credit rating, thanks to Moody’s. Moody’s downgraded the US credit rating, blaming large fiscal deficits and rising interest costs. To longtime watchers of the country’s fiscal position, the move by Moody’s comes as no surprise. Deficits have ballooned amid decad...

The race to better compete with AI chip darling Nvidia (⁠NVDA⁠) is well underway. Enter Groq (⁠GROQ.PVT⁠). The company makes what it calls language processing units (LPUs). These LPUs are designed to make large language models run faster and more efficiently, unlike Nvidia GPUs that target training models. Groq’s last capital raise was in August 2024, when it raised $640 million from the likes of...

There is arguably no better economic indicator than following demand trends from the largest railroad operators in the United States. Railroads, such as Warren Buffett-owned Burlington Northern and rivals Union Pacific (UNP) and CSX (CSX), haul everything from car parts to steel to coal to food. Therefore, whether the economy is doing badly or well is often captured in the top and bottom lines of...

One interesting call out from the latest earnings season is that big-time investments in AI continue despite signs the Trump administration’s tariff policy is weighing on the economy. Earnings results from AI leaders such as Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft (MSFT), and Meta (META) all indicated aggressive spending on AI projects to support demand from customers. You wouldn’t necessarily put Goldman Sachs...

Activist investors such as Carl Icahn, Jeff Smith and Bill Ackman have long been known to be fearless. They lock in on a mismanaged, undervalued target and take executive teams and boards to task to drive shareholder value. Sometimes they are successful, sometimes not so much. But a new breed of activist investor is appearing nowadays, one more inclined to work with management and boards to achiev...

Markets reacted as one would expect in the wake of the US–China trade agreement: with full-on cheerleading, despite a series of trade policy unknowns remaining. In fact, the S&P 500 (^GSPC) rose 0.7% last Tuesday and has now reversed its losses on the year, showing a slight increase, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) advanced 1.8% on Tuesday after entering a new bull market in the prio...

There has been one common theme from Corporate America throughout the last two months as the Trump administration's trade war has taken hold: shot-calling CEOs have been frozen in their normally hard-charging tracks. CEOs have had to task deputies to uproot decades-old supply chains to avoid super-penalizing tariffs on US imports. At the same time, they have moved to talk down Wall Street earnings...

he pros say the US–China tariff thaw is not a deal, but rather a thaw in the ordeal triggered by the Trump administration. Whatever it is, the stock market likes the fact that US tariffs on China will be going down to 30% from 145% for the next 90 days as US and China officials negotiate further. The verdict is out on several fronts, however. For one, tariffs are still in place on China, and there...

The bulls are back on Wall Street, with good reason. The US and China have agreed to ratchet down the tariff war for 90 days as each economy begins to feel the pressure of bruising penalties. After a weekend of meetings in Switzerland, the US will take reciprocal tariffs on China down to 10% from 125%. A separate tariff imposed by President Trump over what he says is China’s role in the fentanyl t...

Laying the groundwork for the post-LeBron playing career investment portfolio, Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi welcomes Klutch Sports founder and CEO Rich Paul to the Opening Bid mic at the Milken Institute Global Conference. Paul is seen as one of the most powerful agents in the world of sports. His first big client was NBA great LeBron James. The two met in 2002 at the Akron-Canton Ai...

The investing game in the field of sports is picking up, especially as it pertains to women’s athletics amid focus on new superstars such as Caitlin Clark. Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi welcomes to the Opening Bid mic at the Milken Institute Global Conference managing partner and head of investments at Ariel Project Level Jason Wright. The former Arizona Cardinals running back was the...

And just like that, stocks are in a good mood again, even as the Trump trade war very much rages on and earnings from Apple (AAPL), Microsoft (MSFT), and Meta (META) could be mixed at best. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) has now notched its best six-day run since March 2022, posting a 7.81% gain. Interestingly, the latest gain means the index is now out of technical correction territory yet again. It now sta...

There are many days to celebrate various things nowadays, from the invention of the hot dog to pets. You can add one more to the list that is near and dear to the Yahoo Finance team: National Investing Day. Charles Schwab (SCHW) coined the term for May 1, which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the SEC eliminating fixed commission rates. This event marked a significant catalyst for the invest...

The bond market has been enduring its fair share of unknowns post President Trump’s Liberation Day. Some pros say the bond market is in a mini-crisis, while others aren’t willing to go that far yet. What happens in the bond market is important as it’s the lifeblood for how consumers buy and save – among other financial system considerations. Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi chats with Do...

Much to the surprise of many investing pros, the market is back in rally mode. While the Trump administration is showing a touch more openness to back off some tariffs, the situation remains highly uncertain. Tariffs continue to be in place, too. Should investors be buying into the renewed strength in stocks? Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi chats on the Opening Bid podcast with former B...

One of the biggest debates in the business world right now is how major manufacturers will respond to fresh tariffs from the Trump administration. If you’re Apple (AAPL) CEO Tim Cook, can you uproot decades of supply chain work in China and build iPhone manufacturing sites in the US to beat tariffs? Or does it make more sense to absorb the Trump tariffs on China while also passing some of the pain...

The fight for restaurant relevance. Within the past year, the sit-down dining industry has seen its fair share of troubles. Hooters filed for bankruptcy earlier this year. Red Lobster managed to emerge from bankruptcy in September 2024. At the heart of the bankruptcies were changing demographics, shifts in how people work and poor decisions on food quality and experience. No sit-down restaurant en...

There isn’t much Pat Gelsinger hasn’t done in the tech industry. He created cutting edge technology decades ago at Intel (INTC). Then went off to VMWare to reinvest the tech player. He then returned to Intel several years ago to revive the chip giant. But Gelsinger’s tenure at Intel was rocking as the company fell behind rivals like Nvidia (NVDA) and AMD (AMD)with AI chips. The company also made a...

The stock market’s tariff-driven convulsions have upended the financial security of many seeking to build their wealth. That includes everyone from those nearing retirement to those in retirement to the wealthy. In effect, investors feel trapped amid the daily market-moving headlines. Financial advisers are also being tested to a degree not seen in years. Popular investing ideas such as Nvidia (NV...

So much for the mini relief rally in one of the world’s most popular stocks. Shares of Nvidia fell as much as 5% in early trading on Wednesday as the company said it would take a $5.5 billion charge as the Trump administration barred it from selling its H20 AI chip in China. The news comes a day after Nvidia tossed the Trump administration a big bone in committing to spend $500 billion over four y...