Power Players with Brian Sozzi

The Super Bowl is in the books, with the Philadelphia Eagles delivering a commanding win over the Kansas City Chiefs. Companies paid a steep $8 million for a 30-second TV spot, up from $7 million in 2024. Now, sports and media watchers can return to their regularly scheduled programming. That programming is of high intrigue. For one, rights deals for Formula 1 and the UFC are on the table in 2025....

Amazon is one of the Magnificent 7 components managing to cling to gains this year, eclipsed only by Meta. The rest of the closely followed trading acronym is down, led by a plunge in Tesla. The gains on Amazon are interesting given how much it plans to spend on capex this year. Similar to Microsoft and Meta this earnings season, Amazon recently uncorked a whopper of a capital spending guide. It s...

On paper, the US economy continues to chug along three weeks into the Trump presidency. The January jobs report showed a solid 143,000 jobs created. Inflation is stable. And big cap tech companies such as Amazon and Meta continue to invest aggressively to build out AI infrastructure. While these are positive reads on the economy, it’s certainly not too hard to see the dark clouds forming on the ho...

The Travis Kelce brand continues to hit "New Heights." And it’s not just because he is dating pop icon Taylor Swift! Kelce will go down as one of the best tight ends in NFL history. With that title, Kelce continues to rake in commercial dollars from big brands wanting to hitch their names to his success and personal brand. Kelce’s return to the Super Bowl this year against the Philadelphia Eagles...

The retail sector felt somewhat well, having had a successful 2024 holiday shopping season. Many of the players in the space were looking forward to unemployment staying low and the Federal Reserve pausing rate hikes as key tailwinds to consumer spending in 2025. Then came the start of a trade war by returning President Donald Trump. The implementation of China tariffs stands to rattle retail supp...

Few companies have had the same impact on society as tech giant Microsoft (MSFT). Co-founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, the company fundamentally changed how work was done with the invention of Windows. Decades later, the company is back shaking up the world order again amid the AI boom. Microsoft has a lucrative stake in ChatGPT developer OpenAI. It’s powering businesses with the release of Mi...

One of the hottest stocks in the world, surprisingly, isn’t AI darling Nvidia (NVDA). It’s actually Brinker International (EAT), which owns the restaurant chain Chili’s. How has the company regained relevance with an eating public that loves to order food from their mobile phones? Well, it starts by improving the food quality at the chain and aggressively marketing it. The company has also doubled...

AI is developing at lightning-fast speeds. What is seen as game-changing on a Monday could be seen as behind the curve by Friday. Investors have been reminded of that this week as AI darling stocks such as Nvidia (NVDA) get punished on fears of DeepSeek. The China-based model maker that competes with OpenAI and Meta (META) has called into question the computing power that's needed to drive AI inno...

Markets have had a case of whiplash in January. Rising bond yields weighed on stocks earlier in the month. Then optimism spread in markets as Donald Trump officially returned to the White House. And now, the likes of JP Morgan CEO and billionaire investor Ray Dalio are warning that stock valuations have gotten too inflated. Not to mention DeepSake fears hammering markets and AI darling Nvidia. Yah...

Ask most stock pickers on Wall Street and they will likely agree that the financials are some of the best bets for 2025. The Trump administration is likely to ease regulations on capital requirements for the banks, freeing up more funds for dividends and buybacks. Deal-making could return in force amid the de-regulation backdrop, lifting the lucrative investment banking industry. And markets may s...

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio has been warning about government debt levels and their implications for years. He is doubling down on his concerns in a new episode of the Opening Bid podcast with Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi. Dalio thinks global economic growth is at risk unless leaders such as US President Donald Trump get a handle on bloated debt levels. He chats with Soz...

NYU professor and economist Nouriel Roubini is known as “Dr. Doom” for a reason—he has never been tepid in keeping it real on the economy, technology, crypto, and markets. When it comes to AI and humanoid robots, his tune was equally critical as he shares concerns with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi on the Opening Bid from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. "I think people...

The IPO market was mixed at best in 2024 despite strong showings by Reddit (RDDT), Viking (VIK), and Rubrik (RBRK). IPOs raised about $123 billion last year compared to a peak of $594 billion in 2021, according to Dealogic data. A total of 150 companies went public last year, per a Renaissance Capital study. With optimism on the regulatory front from the Trump administration, dealmakers expect the...

Skybridge Capital founder Anthony Scaramucci famously spent a short stint as President Trump’s communication director in his first term. He has since gone on to become a fierce critic of the returning president, which was apparent in a new episode of the Opening Bid podcast with Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi. Scaramucci thinks markets are too optimistic on a Trump presidency given the...

The venture capital industry has no shortage of ideas right now in the AI space. Companies specializing in everything from mobility to software to chip design are trying to cash in on the AI boom, and VCs are aiming to be there to grow entrepreneurs and drive returns for their investors. Yahoo Finance Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi chats with one of the more fascinating people in the V...

How do you know as an investor that you are witnessing a borderline bubble in a stock? When a company (or companies) that has made no money ever is trading like it makes lots of money today will make even more money in the future. Welcome to the vibe continuing to surround quantum computing stocks such as D-Wave Quantum and Rigetti Computing. Both of these stocks have been on mind-blowing runs the...

One thing has generally held true about the stock market the past two years: it has gone up and to the right. The reasons why are plentiful. For starters, corporate profits continue to impress Wall Street amid solid US economic growth, pricing power and stock buybacks. Two, investors have poured massive money into big-cap tech names such as Nvidia and Alphabet – which has only served to lift senti...

Can science prevail against this more turbulent backdrop of the Trump administration? Yahoo Finance executive editor Brian Sozzi talks at length with Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan. Narasimhan has led the drug giant since 2018, doing deals that have expanded the company’s pipeline in areas like heart disease and cancer. Still, Narasimhan is feeling pressure to bring the investments to the bottom line...

Surprise surprise, an Nvidia stock price beating right after a closely watched CES keynote from CEO and founder Jensen Huang. Huang sure delivered the sizzle, promising big things in robotics and AI. All of this was reinforced in a Yahoo Finance interview with Huang led by tech editor Dan Howley. Yet, investors left yearning for more – and Nvidia’s stock notched their worst day since Sept. 3 on Ja...

Not many internet companies from the past 30 years conjure up the allure of Yahoo. The tech pioneer was the first guide for people to the fast-growing internet in the mid to late 1990s. Along the way came legendary products such as Yahoo.com, Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, Yahoo News and Yahoo Mail. These timeless products endure today as the go-to trusted guide for millions of people around the wor...

Month after month, Tesla (TSLA) continues to be one of Yahoo Finance’s top most active tickers. And as a big car lover, it’s no surprise that Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi had to spend an entire Opening Bid episode focusing on our top Tesla conversations from the year. With critical investment insights, competitive landscape analysis, and absolute fangirl hype, this episode is chock-f...

From Investing 101 to the future of AI and even the billionaire mindset, Opening Bid has brought you key coverage from all angles of the investing world. In this episode, you’ll hear from several top names, including Howard Buffett, CEO and Chairman of the Howard G. Buffett Foundation; Ford (F) CEO Jim Farley; Salesforce (CRM) Co-Founder, Chairman, and CEO Marc Benioff; Economist Judy Shelton; and...

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) exploded this year, reaching new heights following the election of President Trump. Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi spoke to several key players in the space on Opening Bid, bringing you their investing approaches and what to look out for in the future of cryptocurrencies. In this episode, you’ll hear from PayPal (PYPL) CEO Alex Chriss, BNY Mellon (BK) CEO & President...

From Nvidia (NVDA) to startups or even humanoid robots, it seems that every company under the sun found a way to incorporate AI into their business in 2024. On Opening Bid, Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi spoke with numerous key players in the space to get their takes on the AI explosions and help you wrap your head around the ever-evolving technology. In this episode, you’ll hear momen...

The market wasn't surprised by the Federal Reserve's decision to cut the fed funds rate by 25 basis points on Wednesday. But the outlook that showed FOMC members only expect two rate cuts did, sending stocks plummeting. In an interview with Yahoo Finance Executive Editor Brian Sozzi on Opening Bid, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said the decision to cut was a "close call" that "took a lot o...