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Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast
7 Business News Stories We Are Following Today 7-14-25
00:03:39
In this episode, Scott Becker shares seven top stories in business and finance, including the latest on CPI data, Meta’s AI push, NVIDIA’s continued momentum, and more.
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This is Scott Becker with the Becker Business Podcast. In the Becker Private Equity Podcast, these are seven of the stories that we're following today. First, early on futures Pointed down. Today is tariff talk heats up. However, as of midday, the markets are relatively flat. So that's good news and we'll see how that continues. Second, the June CPI data, the consumer price index data will come out tomorrow. That will give us a sense and will keep us watching the Fed. Often when the CPI numbers come out, there's a lot of Fed watching leads to a lot of volatility. We'll see what happens tomorrow. Third, Facebook Meta platforms, which has been in the news a lot lately, keeps on doubling down in AI. They're doing the acquisition of a company called Play AI. The financial terms are not disclosed. But it's really amazing the amount of effort that you that Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook Meta Meta platforms are putting into trying to be leaders in the AI world and space as that develops. Simply fascinating. Fourth, a story about Nvidia. Nvidia keeps on rolling. Kramer says you have to own it. Another prognosticator says it's likely to get to 5 trillion. We'll see how it goes. But Nvidia remains a you got to have in your portfolio type of thing. Most of us, like me have it through our through ultimately through our index funds versus directly. Of course I wish I had it directly, but it is what it is. Fifth, managed care stalwart darling Oscar Health faces some headwind wins. It dropped 12% recently, down 7.4% Friday. It's been a leader in the managed care space Recently Wells Fargo downgraded Oscar Health. Oscar Health is ran by the former Aetna CEO Mark Bertolini. Brilliant. They're basically finding they can't escape the other headwinds that are facing. But they're ultimately finding that they can't escape some of the headwinds that are facing managed care. Essentially, Wells Fargo said that the acuity their patients is going up so the medical costs are going to be higher for them to manage. Again. That's what's going on with Oscar Health. One of the things, one of the companies that's avoided a lot of the managed care problems so far. Sixth, Lucid Motors continues to struggle and define any sort of scale. Its stock is down 25% year to date. A recent article in the Motley fool, why Lucid Stock skidded to a 30 decline in the first half of 2025. Again, that's lucid Motors. The last story we'll talk about today is PE funds, as whole periods get longer and longer, increasingly turn to continuation vehicles to give some liquidity to their investors and to put some wins on the board. This is where a PE fund essentially sells a sponsored company to another either vehicle or company owned by that same PE fund and allow some liquidity while putting some wins on the board. But the extent to which continuation vehicle sales have increased is significant. Those are some of the stories we're following today. Again, there's a great article on the use of continuation bloods in the Wall Street Journal today. If you have anything you want to comment on any questions you have, please feel free to reach Scott Becker, 773-766-5322. Thank you for listening to the Becker Business Podcast and the Becker Private Equity Podcast. Thank you very much.