Congratulations to Matt Wolf on joining Elliott Davis. Matt is an exceptional leader and analyst. A separate shout out to Greg Koonsman who does an incredible job leading VMG Health and now serves as Executive Chairman. A great professional and leader.

We have a webinar May 7th on 25 business and life mantras and thoughts. It’s partially based on the book “The Entrepreneur’s Edge”. Our new concept is to give away free copies of the book at all of my talks. I may need to further improve the book for people

38% of adults in the US and 43% of households in the US have zero ownership in stocks or equities. Listen to the great divide at Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast. We expect to release 3 to 4 short podcasts today at Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast. In

I’m thrilled to interview Coach Nick Saban at the Becker’s Healthcare Conference on Monday and excited to see Holly Buckley McGuireWoods LLP interview Lance Armstrong at the McGuireWoods LLP HealthCare PE Conference May 14 and 15.

Futures point down this morning as the markets digest mixed signals re tariffs and negotiations. PepsiCo lowered its full-year earnings expectations Thursday, citing increased costs from tariffs and a pullback in consumer spending. AP

Stifel Financial Corp. missed earnings by a large amount and dropped 3.8% yesterday. It’s down 21% year to date. AllianceBernstein is essentially flat year to date. FTI Consulting is down 11% but heading in the right direction. It’s been hiring some very talented leaders this year.

Tesla jumped the last two days but remains down nearly 38% year to date.

Chipotle Mexican Grill which lost Brian Niccol as CEO is down pre market and down 20% year to date. Starbucks where Brian has taken the leadership role is down 10% year to date. PepsiCo is down 6.44% year to date. The Coca-Cola Company is up 17% year to date. We

IBM is down 7% pre market on news of the loss of Federal Government contracts. A lot of consulting firms are facing some of this. Intel Corporation jumped 5.5% yesterday on news that it is cutting 20% of its employees. It’s up a few percent year to date. NVIDIA is

Top strategist at Jefferies says the best days for US stocks are behind them. Bloomberg. The article is one bit depressing. The markets jumped the last two days. Thank goodness.

17 stories we are following today. 1. Top strategist at Jefferies says the best days for US stocks are behind them. Bloomberg. The article is one bit depressing. 2. The markets jumped the last two days. Thank goodness. 3. Futures point down this morning as the markets digest mixed signals

16 stories we are following today. 1. Top strategist at Jefferies says the best days for US stocks are behind them. Bloomberg. The article is one bit depressing. 2. The markets jumped the last two days. Thank goodness. 3. Futures point down this morning as the markets digest mixed signals

6 upcoming speeches 1. Webinar May 7. 25 key mantras, thoughts and concepts. Thank you to Elizabeth Hutson for sending comments. 2. Keynote talk Advancement League YHLS Atlanta May 13. 3. Keynote interview McGuireWoods HCPE Conf May 14. 4. Keynote talk WTA-Wisconsin Technology Association June 5 Madison. 5. Colorado Hospital,

We just ran an X/Twitter poll where we asked where should investors put their equity investments. We provided 4 choices — index funds, individual stocks, PE funds and private companies. The quite unofficial survey showed 57% index funds, 20% individual stocks, 12% PE funds and 11% private companies. Some of

 Intel Corporation to cut 20% of employees. “Intel Corp. (INTC) is poised to announce plans this week to cut more than 20% of its staff, aiming to eliminate bureaucracy at the struggling chipmaker, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.” Bloomberg.