In this episode, Scott Becker highlights nine key business and market stories, including a rare market closure for Good Friday, steep declines for major indices, and more.
Chapter 1: Why are the markets closed on Good Friday?
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast. These are nine of the stories that we're following this morning. Again, it's April 18th. It's Good Friday and the markets are closed. So that's probably good news for a lot of us. First, the markets are closed today, which is a welcome change for everyone and a chance to catch their breath.
Chapter 2: How have major stock indices performed over the last month?
The S&P is down nearly 7% over the last month. The NASDAQ is down nearly 8.5% over the last month. The market being closed today is like talking about the Chicago Bears playing today. They can't lose today because it's summer. They're not playing. Same thing with the market. We can't lose today. Second, the markets were relatively flat yesterday. Third,
Chapter 3: What is Moody's forecast for defaults in 2025?
Chapter 4: What are the recent developments in US-EU trade talks?
Moody's ratings is boosting its forecast for defaults this year as escalating trade wars globally may weigh on economic growth and make financing harder to get. Fourth, President Trump, at least reportedly, is having good meetings with the European Union. A lot of people would like to see that work out well and some of the trade stuff work out well.
Fifth, for a discussion of Trump versus Powell, listen here. There's a separate podcast we have on Trump versus Powell and the ongoing fight they have. Sixth, Eli Lilly and company jumped 14% yesterday. Seventh, UnitedHealth Group dropped 22%. We've got an article on the Becker Private Equity site, see UnitedCraters, not a good situation.
Eighth, Hertz jumped 44% yesterday on Bill Ackman's investment. Finally, ninth, NVIDIA lost approximately $750 billion in market cap over the last few months. That's been incredible to see that much money lost over the last several months. Thank you for listening to the Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast. We'll be back with you today with a few more episodes.
Thank you very, very much for listening.