13 stories we are following this morning.
1. The markets had their worst two days in a row since 2020 and point down again this AM. Good news is they are not as far down as they were earlier. But they remain very very volatile.
While I’m not a fan of tariffs, when you hear the White House talk about this, it feels like they are trying to say to China and others, stop taking advantage of us. I know some may view this as a charitable view of what the White House is expressing.
2. At some point soon, we hope the markets will bottom out. How Aggase used to say “image is everything”, we would say “allocation is everything.” Allocation and emergency funds are very critical so you don’t need to sell into a falling market.
3. The President says the markets may have to “take their medicine.” It’s a fascinating non empathetic take to many who hold equities. As to the concept that we have to erase trade deficits, I assume we can reduce them but if we are the largest economy in the world, even with fair reciprocal tariffs, we are likely to be a net import nation.
4. Suddenly the markets are anticipating a good deal of Fed rate cuts. See The Wall Street Journal “Investors Ramp Up Bets on Fed Rate Cuts.”
5. CVS Health is reportedly working on massive layoffs. Let’s hope that is not a sign of the coming times.
6. Some of the stocks we watch are getting pummeled. Moderna is down 76% over the last year. Palantir Technologies has been getting hammered this week.
7. I’m very excited to join Edward Marx’s podcast today. What an amazing leader and person and high energy individual.
8. I’m also very thankful to give a keynote talk in Atlanta next month as the Young Health Leaders Summit. This is May 14th.
9. A fantastic keynote panel at the McGuireWoods LLP HealthCare Private Equity Conference featuring J.P. Gallagher Endeavor Health, Alyssa Jaffee 7wire Ventures, Stephen Klasko General Catalyst and Imamu Tomlinson, MD, MBA Vituity.
10. Excitied to recently feature a few of our favorite leaders on the Becker’s Healthcare podcast including Shiv (Shivdev) Rao of Abridge and Malinka Walaliyadde and Benjamin Beadle-Ryby of AKASA.
11. Alexander Ovechkin passed Wayne Gretzky as the all time goal scorer this week. The Great one and the great eight. Amazing stuff. Listen to our podcast today about Ovechkin, hockey camp and midlife crisis. Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast.
12. We have a great line up at the Becker’s Healthcare Annual Meeting kicking off April 28. This includes Michael Phelps, Venus Williams, Kevin O’Leary and Nick Saban.
13. Also thanks to Nancy Stephens listen today to Post Tariff Depression Syndrome. Morgan Housel author of the Psychology of Money has a great take on how you can still live your life with the markets in turmoil.
Ps. Chicago led by the great Clevelander lost to Philadelphia greats Hal Rhodes and Garry Sklut. We will be back.