Bank stock picks, crypto trajectory, dealmaking appetite, and more takes from top execs this week
This is The Takeaway from today’s Morning Brief, which you can sign up to receive in your inbox every morning along with:
Always be on your toes when it comes to investing.
I tell the Yahoo Finance team that every day is full of surprises. And I assure you, long-struggling Beyond Meat (BYND) taking aim at energy drink players Celsius and Red Bull with a new protein-packed sparkling beverage wasn’t on my bingo card on Monday morning.
Here are a few comments from my daily live show, Opening Bid, and podcast Opening Bid Unfiltered that left an impression on — or surprised — me this week.
Feel free to think on them to generate new investing ideas, reassess your current holdings, or even become a better leader. And, of course, you can drop me a line on X @BrianSozzi. Happy to exchange ideas with you in real time.
BitWise CIO Matt Hougan
On why bitcoin will decouple from stocks:
“You have a lot of things that are impacting the stock market that don’t impact bitcoin. It’s being driven by other factors. It’s being driven by fiscal debasement. It has this huge institutional investment going on … And as bitcoin matures, it’s going to increasingly act like its own thing. Not like a risk on asset, but as a unique asset that fits into portfolios and makes the whole portfolio perform better.”
CrowdStrike founder and CEO George Kurtz
On the cybersecurity risk of AI agents:
“The challenge that you have with some of these AI agents, it’s like giving full access to a drunken intern. I mean, who knows what they’re going to do, right? So you have to put a lot of guardrails around the agents. AI and AI agents are going to change the world, there’s no doubt about that. But that has to be done in a secure way that minimizes risk to the business and provides a level of compliance.”
Perella Weinberg CEO Andrew Bednar
On the outlook for dealmaking in 2026:
“I would say today we’ve got the equivalent of perfect ski conditions. So if you think about the three biggest factors in driving M&A, we’ve got a very strong equities market, we’ve got a strong credit market, and we’ve got a very accommodative regulatory regime in Washington. So those three components, I think, come together and create very, very favorable conditions for more transaction activity.”
Thinkorswim founder Tom Sosnoff
On a potential early spring market pullback:
“It’s not that I think we’re rolling over and crashing or anything like that, but I just think the odds favor the downside in the market. I think there’s a lot of stocks that are very fairly priced, and I know there’s not a lot of other things to invest in and things like that. But I will just say that I think stocks are fully priced. And I think if you do get any kind of momentum to the downside, like we saw last April — and I expect to see something like that maybe in March or April or May this year — I think you’re going to get a little nasty sell-off, maybe 10% to 15%.”
Crossmark chief markets strategist Victoria Fernandez
On the best bank stocks to own post-earnings this week:
“Even though JP Morgan (JPM) typically is kind of your gold standard here, the price has gotten pretty high. I think if you’re looking to do an entry point, as some of the prices have come down, I would look at some of these with lower valuations that have strong balance sheets. So maybe Bank of America (BAC) might be one that you take a look at or even Citi (C). I think those are good opportunities. There’s good opportunity for them to move higher and for their balance sheets to continue to improve. And we think the yield curve is going to continue to steepen throughout 2026 for lots of reasons. Fed cutting rates, term premiums going higher, and global yields pushing higher growth opportunities. So we do think financials are a good place to be.”
Former tennis pro and ESPN analyst Patrick McEnroe
On how to deal with losing:
“You have to get accustomed to losing, and then you have to be able to look in the mirror and say, OK, what can I do to still feel good about myself, still try to improve myself. I knew that when I played Andre Agassi, for example, he was going to kick my ass. No matter what I did, it didn’t matter, because there’s certain levels where the players are the best in the world. I was very good, but I wasn’t at that level. So that can be a hard pill to swallow if you have dreams as a kid, like, hey, I could maybe win the US Open like my brother did. When the reality sets in that that’s not going to happen, you have to be content with OK, how can I be the best I can be as an individual, as a player, as a person, and that’s sort of what drove me over my career.”
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance’s Executive Editor and a member of Yahoo Finance’s editorial leadership team. Follow Sozzi on X @BrianSozzi, Instagram, and LinkedIn. Tips on stories? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
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