charles: so i just got a tweet from a guy who says he's feeling, golly, he's been in the market since 2015, doesn't feel good. a lot of people feel like it's crappy out there, they're fed up, they hate the stock market, of course, they hate everybody who's many charge. my message is whatever you do, don't panic and don't tell. -- don't sell i. feels crappy because those who are in charge have let us down, they always do. the other part of the story though is you don't want to the sell good stocks at a loss because guess who's going to be buying them? that's right, those same powers and their benefactors. hang in there with those great companies and, you know, it's the unfortunately something we have to live with, but make your voices heard loud and clear. right, liz? liz: oh, yeah. you can tell them don't panic and don't sell, but the market is a gigantic voting machine. right now it is saying sell. let's start with a fox market

alert. folks, we are just over an hour away from one of the most important earnings reports of the season, that would be apple. shares of the largest company in the world are down more than a percent right now ahead of the release of its fiscal second quarter which is expected to show profits of $1.43 per share on revenues of $92.9 billion, more than half of which is predicted to come from iphone sales. but those sales will still be down year-over-year. the report has the potential on a major market event not only because apple's got a haugh weighting on the dow -- heavy weighting on the dow, s&p and the nasdaq, but because of the pace of sale for its high-end, yes, the phones but also the ipads and the laptops are seen as a proxy for whether consumers still have a taste for spending in an uncertain economy. coming up in a fox business exclusive, the man who 40 years ago bought 300,000 worth of apple -- can you imagine what that'd be worth today? alan patricof can on whether it's the leading or behind when it comes to a.i.

let's get to the markets, and you've got to call it a crisis of confidence hitting investors at this hour. after dropping three days in a row, the dow, s&p and nasdaq are all on pace for a fourth day of losses. yesterday 270 points got slash off the dow, so this loss at the moment of 2 the 98 points -- 298 is that much more painful although we are off the lows of the session. the s&p down 26, the nasdaq down 46. if the federal reserve's tenth rate hike in a row yesterday triggered wednesday'ss malaise, right nows the, sorry, charles, panic selling. in two regional banks which in turn is dragging down the entire financial sector the including the big money center banks. pac west is dropping right now 42%. what you see now is just off a record all-time low after the company confirmed last night that it is exploring strategic options including a potential sale. it has since tried to come out and calm the markets saying its cash and liquidity remain solid and exceed uninsured deposits,

but investors are fleeing nonetheless. western alliance, a slight isly different story. not loss, the loss is pretty dramatic, down 36%. the arizona-based bank though is pushing back hard on a "financial times" report that it, too, has hired advisers to consider options amid this regional bank turmoil. western alliance telling fox business the report is categorically false and that it has not hire advisers. but regardless, the stock is at multiyear lows, and that is swamping the kre. so what we're going another the, we're going to put the kre on the bug here on our screen for push of the session here. this is basket of 144 regional bank stocks. more than 80% of them right now are hitting 52-week lows. one of them is first horizon, it is tanking right now. 33%. after td bank called off its merger with the tennessee regional citing canadian regulatory issues. they could just have easy cited

market conditions because even the big financials are getting dumped. morgan stanley, with this loss right now of about let's call it 2.33%, that means week to date it's lost 8 plus percent. jpmorgan, which started week on a high note after it purchased 'em embattled first republic bank, is down 1.5 the %, and the red spreading to wells, goldman and bank of america. i know you're asking where's the green, liz. gold, gold futures are blasting higher right now by $20 the in a classic flight to safety move. and at $2, 057 a troy ounce, they are now within $13 of an all-time high of $2,072 per troy ounce. the ceo, by the way, of barrett gold is going to join us live in the second half hour. but for now, are stocks turning gold at these much low are or prices? joining me now phil balloon cat toe and ubs managing director and senior portfolio manager jason katz.

jason, you've got to call this what it is the, and that is a rout in bank shares. regional but otherwise as well. what is the psychology here? beyond the federal reserve. >> i know this is anecdotal, but speaking with our clients who have money at some of these regional banks, they're basically saying what's the point? if i can move my deposits to a larger, safer bank, and and it's hard to the to make the argument against that. so this is sort of a sell fulfilling -- self-fulfilling prophesy. i think unlike the great financial crisis, we're going to get to the point in the not too distant future where the market's' going to push back on this. because this really is getting to the point where they're attacking aspects of the regional banking market that are in fine shape. and i think you will see a stabilization in the not too distant future. but to your point, yes, this is palpable, and it's panic selling, it's probably getting overdone but things, the pendulum always swings too far,

and i think that's what we're witnessing. liz: we are going to the scroll through some of them, most of them really that are hitting 5 2- week lows or wider lows. truist financial, valley national bank. so, phil, we don't want to sit here and look at this through the prism of a one single day or one week or two month loss that we've seen ever since silicon valley bank imploded. right now will we, if we fast forward a couple of months, look at today as having been a brilliant opportunity to scoop up some stocks? not necessarily these. >> yes, without a doubt. and here's why. i really like the regional banks. the united states can't function in this cap list structure without -- capitalist structure. you mentioned valley national bank, great company, look at that stock and say i get to buy it 50% off -- liz: but it could go under. >> under's a really broad with statement. here's why i don't buy into that. first, take a look at what the

federal government has done by putting out areas of capital they can access. i know it sends up a red flag, but what happened here? was this really more about investors taking advantage of higher yields, moving into money markets, squeezing deposits? was it the bank making a mistake on what's on their balance sheet? these are the moments where you nibble at some of the names. i think it's an opportunity the, i really do. liz: jason, the broader market though really has not exactly been lifting in its entire i. i mean, you look at the s&p, there are just a handful of sort of the weight lifters holding up the entire index. so tell us what you interpret from that. >> talk about weight lifters, 80% of the performance of the s&p is coming from 7 stocks? so the other 493, where are you? so, look, we've had large cap, technology being the so-called safe haven trade because of those predictable earnings. at the multiples they're

trading, it's really hard to justify multiple expansion. so i would submit to you you need to look outside of what has worked this year into other areas such as dividend-oriented, such as value where valuations are extraordinarily more reasonable. liz: well, would that the include the microsofts and the apples of the world, jason? i mean, you watched today, advanced micro devices did an absolute moonshot on a bloomberg report that if microsoft is funding amd's chip-making capabilities for artificial intelligence. look at this spike. this is unbelievable. so do you go with the sort of tried and trues of microsoft and is apple which, as we said, reports after the bell? >> so, no. we've gone from too big to the fail to too maul to succeed. so the large -- small to succeed. the larger companies will continue to thrive, but if ubs were saying right-size those positions, we wouldn't add to them here. they've been the -- liz: what does that mean, right size? >> right size means it should be

a market weight exposure at most. you want to bring it down to the exposure that that sector represents as the the 11 sectors that make up the s&p. we would not be overweight a sector that's done all of this heavy lifting. liz: philing when you look at tech and those names that we're calling the s&p heavy weight lifters, is there a name in particular you pluck out? >> apple. and i'm going to the leave aside today and what you opened with was spot on. the opportunity in india. you've got a 2, 3-year opportunity to see the stock at 210, 220 because of the opportunity to just penetrate a market that has nothing to do with their sales right now. liz: right. they do not sell a lot of smartphones in india, but they're going to start producing, so a cheaper phone? >> buy the company on weakness. to his point, i don't like the market here. buy the dividends, hang out, shelter down. let's get through this period of fed noise, regional banks probably have 3, 4, 5 more

months of this. get paid to wait around. apple, it's positioned to be a gigantic stock -- liz: and by the way, they've opened two retail centers in india. that's only the beginning. jason, let's kind of talk about what happens in the near future. if you look at the fed funds futures, okay, june. forget it, 90 plus percent odds that there will be an interest rate pause, not move, but if you flip that over to the september fed funds futures, so there's the june. you go to september and there is now a more than 50% odds that there will be a cut. okay? 50.4%. this is the latest fed funds futures here. so where's the benefit? what sector, what area do you say, or well, that's going to benefit. >> well, i take the other side of that trade. this was last one and and done. the fed can ill afford to go any higher and stay for a longer period of time. and they had this whole

transitory talk, and they lost credibility. they're not doing that the second go-around. so all these people that are banking on another rate cut or two -- liz: you're saying they're wrong. >> they are dead wrong. so to phil's earlier point, you can hang out. you could hang out this treasuries getting north of 5% or just high quality value and dividend-oriented names and get a combination of dividend and some appreciation and have returns that are in the mid single-digit range hawaii that's where i think the trade is. liz: phil and jason, thank you so much. great to have you both. again, we're coming up with alan patricof on apple earnings ahead of the big announcement but, again, it is definitely a benchmark, definitely considered a market-moving possibility depending on what that news is. so stay tuned there. in the meantime, quite a few stocks that flew skyward this morning have come back to earth because they're getting swamp by the broader market moves here. wingstop is actually one of them. it hit an all-time high earlier this session after the restaurant chain cooked up

gourmet earnings gains, but the stock has now reversed all on, yeah, good news. ceo says that does the not change the wind beneath wingstop for the longer term, he's going to join us live next. with the closing bell ringing in 49 minutes, "the clayman countdown" has a very close eye on the regional bank selloff. for now the dow is down 2 the 70. ♪ ♪ 270. ♪ ♪

♪ ("next big thing" by west rose) ♪ ♪ ♪ ready? go ♪ ♪ i'm coming out with a bang ♪ ♪ blowin' up i'm the next big thing ♪ ♪ we don't just have everything... we have your thing. ♪ ♪ blowin' up i'm the next big thing ♪ ♪ ready? go ♪

if lawn care were easy, everyone would do it... as well as trugreen does it. in just three easy steps, trugreen's online tools help customize a treatment plan for you. our science-driven expertise ensures your custom, nutrient-rich treatment works to deliver a greener, healthier lawn. and, it's all backed by the trugreen guarantee. our experts will make sure you're happy with your lawn - guaranteed. it's time to trust your experts at trugreen. go online to get 50% off your first application.

liz: okay, yes, the market is down, but we actually have a bunch of restaurant stocks that are giving a chef's kiss to investors after strong earnings and guidance. shake shack, up 14%. papa john's pizza, i love thattic ther, p zzaing.

wigstop earlier -- wingstop earlier touched a record high of $223 and change after beating the street's first quarter earnings expectations in year-over-year sales higher by 30.5% to $821.6 million thanks to to lift from college basketball's march madness. and amid odd's volatility though, investors are now flying the coop, taking some profits. with nearly 2,000 stores globally and a whole bunch of them as franchises, how does wingstop plan to continue to soar? ceo michael skipworth, michael, notwithstanding the markets, down here, the dow down 34 # points and we've got this regional bank situation, tell me what you are hearing on the ground from not just your with own company-owned stores, but the franchisees. >> there's a ton of excitement within our system because, as you mentioned, we had a great first quarter.

we delivered 21. % same-store sales growth almost entirely driven by transaction growth which speaks to the underlying fundamental strength of our brand, and we're doing the against a backdrop with favorable commodities which is make our brand partners enjoy the best unit level economics they've experienced in a long time. liz: let me be very clear because we were talking about this in our meeting with "the claman countdown" team. when you see on the screen what we just showed you guys out there, 101 million in revenue, that is for the company-owned wingstop stores. let's spread it out to all the franchisees. how much money died -- in sales -- came flying in during the quarter? >> yeah. if you look at our business on basically a trailing 12 month, we're quickly approaching $3 billion of system sales. pretty exciting milestone that we're proud of and another

milestone we're really excited about is we just last week opened our 2,000th wingstop within the system. that really speaks to the opportunity we have which we really just feel like we're getting going or just getting started. where we see an opportunity to scale wingstop to a top ten global restaurant brand which we see that consisting of over 7,000 restaurants worldwide. liz: we've got some of your wings here on the set. i personally find wings incredibly frustrating because there's not enough meat for me to sink my little fangs into, but they look good. you've got the french fries, you've got cookies now, a lot of other options. but how to do you continue to evolve? i know you have some chicken sandwiches as well, and this at a time, i guess, that bone-in chicken wing prices dropped 5 the.8% year-over-year in the first quarter, that's got to be good news for your costs. >> it's definitely good news and, again, or those unit economics are as strong as they've ever been which is fueling demand for growth with our brand partners.

as we ended q1, we have a record pipeline of sold commitments for another 1200 restaurants, and we have a pipeline of approved sites that's setting us up for another record year of development this year. we expect to open 240 net new restaurants which represents over 12% growth rate. liz: you know, we could deduce from one part of your earnings report how uber eats and dash are doing, and that is your digital sales jumped exponentially to a record 65.2 here. that, to me, is pretty interesting. what pattern or what trend do you see evolving from that? >> we actually have an aspiration to digitize every transaction. when wen continue to lean -- we continue to lean into ways to make the ordering experience more efficient for our guests, and we're also innovating where we can intercept phone orders as an example. roughly 10% of our orders today come in over phone, and we

actually on the earnings call yesterday talked about a test that we're expanding where we're leveraging artificial intelligence to intercept those phone orders and translate them into a digital experience and a digital order for the restaurant. we see a ton of growth there, and that's just one of many multiple drives we have that we think can set this brand up for sever years of sustained top-line growth. we have an as aspiration of growing our average unit volume which is just shy of $1.7 million today to north of $2 the million. liz: i know when i ask ceos this, they say i don't know why a stock does what it does. this is a significant reversal. you guys hit a record high earlier in the session, and now the stock is selling off. i'm just wondering if you were sitting with your team -- let me take a quick look here because i want to see whatst doing, right now it's down about 4.5% to $208. that's a pretty significant swing. if you were to venture to guest

why investors are selling the stock right now, what would you think. >> you know, it's hard to predict what investors are thinking, particularly in a market like we're in right now. but we think there's a ton of upside, and it's it is such an exciting time to be part of wingstop, to be a shareholder. we have a very unique model in that we're asset-light are, high growth, we generate a ton of cash flow, and we think it's a model that's positioned to continue to deliver best in class shareholder returns. liz: michael, it's great to see you. thank you very, very much. heck, it's not happening right now, but congratulations on the record high on the stock. you've got to love that. >> thank you. liz: thank you so much. folks, we need to show you the kre once again, the regional bank etf, it is down 4.8%. you can sees the off the low of the session which was $34.5 522, it's at 36.30, not much better, okay? and every single name except for about five in the kre, i think

there are 144 stocks in that etf, are down, and 80 of those are hitting 52-week lows. if you think this stampede away from bank shares is not going to put a chill on bank lending, you're wrong. with loans the life blood of small businesses, what kind of hurt are they racing for in the ceo of 16 handles who already made it through zero revenue during the lockdowns is figuring out right now how to handle credit drying up. he's going to share his plan next. smart guy and it's our small business report. and sure, as a kid former nfl defensive end devon still had a plan, but at the age of 10 it was dederailed when he found himself in a jail cell for stealing a bike. to get back on rack the, he joined the high school football team which ultimately got him drafted by the cincinnati bengals. plan a back in play, right? well, yeah, until his young daughter's devastating cancer diagnosis. you've got to to the hear how

devon pulled off comeback after comeback after comeback including saving his daughter. it's my newest episode of my everyone talks to liz podcast, download it now. we do havestrials lower by $342. ♪ ♪

the day you get your clearchoice dental implants makes every day... a "let's dig in" day... mm. ...a "chow down" day... a "take a big bite" day... a "perfectly delicious" day... - mm. [ chuckles ] - ...a "love my new teeth" day. because your clearchoice day is the day everything is back on the menu. a clearchoice day changes every day. schedule a free consultation. this isn't just freight. these aren't just shipments. they're promises. promises of all shapes and sizes. each, with a time and a place they've been promised to be. a promise is everything to old dominion, because it means everything to you.

sam was 8 when we got him. i convinced my husband to go to the adoption day and we saw sam. he did not bark for like a month after we got him. and then one day he went “woof.” i was like, “you can talk!” advice to dog owners? feed them good food, take them on walks, let them stop and sniff, play with them, love on them as much as possible... because even if sam lives to 20, it won't be long enough.

else nutrition is disrupting an 80-billion-dollar global baby food industry with the world's first whole plant, dairy, and soy free baby formula line. their patented products are available in over 11,000 stores and growing rapidly. else nutrition.

♪ liz: i know we keep talking about the regionals, but paramount is looking like a regional bank sock the at this hour. the media conglomerate is cropping 26% right now -- dropping 26 percent, trading close to where it was more than 13 years ago. the selloff sparked by a steep first quarter loss due in part to 1.7 billion in charges that were tied to the loss of programming when they combined showtime streaming with its paramount platform. so a lot of those shows went away. investors e also shocked by the huge cut in its dividend from 24 cents down the 5 cents, the first dividend cut in more than a decade at paramount. paramount says the move is expected to save $500 million. hey, you gotta do what you gotta do. moderna reporting a surprise first quarter profit of 19 cents a share, stock is up 3.8% at the moment. analysts had projected a loss of

$1.77, so this is a good surprise here. biotech company generates first quarter sales of just $1.9 billion though, that's down, get this, from the $6.1 billion it had reported the same period a year ago, of course, driven by the command for covid-19 vaccines. but, of course, it is a waning at the moment. the stock the though not waning, it's flexing. investors wieg up shop -- buying up shopify after the company announced it'll be cutting 20% of its work force. the canadian-based tech darling also reported first quarter revenue that topped analyst estimates. shopify is company that basically helps small businesses become businesses. they provide essential internet infrastructure for e-commerce and help them figure out how to get hair payments. the stock is up 26.8% right now. and speaking of small business, the heartbeat of the u.s. economy is small business, and they are beginning to feel the pain of tighter e credit

conditions following all this banking turmoil. according to the biz to credit small business lending index, loan approval percentages at big banks fell from 14.2 in february to 13.8% in march. that's the lowest figure for the big banks since july of 2021 when we were just barely merging from the -- emerging from the covid lockdowns. and those who are out there hunting for loans to to get their businesses off the ground or simply to continue growing may just find an even cold canner or reception from lenders once the april numbers come in. let's bring in a small business. 16 handles is a frozen yogurt chain that's rapidly expanding with 35 locations across 7 states, and ceo neil hershman goes to the debt market often to ask for loans, what's the atmosphere right now in. >> yeah, absolutely. a lot of our stores, while it is a cheaper buildout, they still -- we do have a lot of mom

and pop franchisees who do want to take a loan, and it is quite difficult in this market. you have higher mortgage rates, higher rates everywhere, and that's ultimately trick trickling down to take a loan to build a few store. but that being said, we are a cheaper concept to build, and so we still have a lot of interest in our pipeline, and a lot of stores are in development right now. liz: i know how franchises work. they go to the dad or the den mother, meaning the ceo, to say what do we do? we've been turned down for three different loans. you dragged this company through a survival situation during the lockdowns. you're smart. i know, we've done the podcast on you. you've got to tell me what you are advising them to do right now, because we have small businesses watching getting rejected for loans. >> actually at corporate it's been a different mindset, how do we make it cheaper to build out, and on the flipside we have, of course, our existing franchisees and a really think margin. --

healthy margin. we do have price increases which customers don't seem to mind to overall, but for the new buildout, it's been scaling the concept so it's a little cheaper to build and they're not needing as much cash. st the, you know, of course going to be easier the less you ask for, the more you're able to put in yourself. liz: and how does store traffic of square with those i believe it's 10% price hikes? >> just in the last few months as we lead into the summer season, of course, 16 handles, this is our peak season, we did see a price increase at most of our stores. there is some price sensitivity in certain markets that are a little bit more rural, but especially urban markets we're seeing price increases 8-10% and traffic counts are up, same-store sales are up, and the concept's doing very well right now. liz: and you've got deals for promotion with oatly, warner brothers. why streamers? peacock, what is it -- >> yeah, 16 handles, we have 35 stores, 7 alone in manhattan that are all great locations.

you have you have the ability, you know, to -- we have the ability to use our window as kind of like a billboard, use our brand as a partnership tool, and that's not only driving in new traffic, but it's also good for the brands we work with. and is so we're able to do some really unique partnerships with 16 handles. it's a lot of fun. it brings in new customers, and it's great marketing. liz: are you worried you won't be able to make it through this difficult time, at least some of your franchisees? >> no, quite the opposite. we're opening a new store in naples, or or florida, just next week, headed there next. overall, yes, the rates are up, of course. when i acquired franchise or i took a small sba 7a loan which is one of the federal programs and the interest rates on those are variable. so it's like, yes, interest rates are up and it hurts, but as long as you're able to increase cash flow and revenue, you're able to match it and, fortunately, consumers are spending. spending is on a tear right now,

right? there might be some credit tightening coming up, but until that happens, everything is positive right now. liz: neil,st it's great to have you. thank you. i'm sure there are a lot of small business people watching at the moment saying calming words, certainly. but the reality is, folks, the regional banks are in trouble, and they're the ones who have lent to the so many small businesses including 16 handles. we're continuing to watch the situation. in the meantime, the closing bell ringing in 26 minutes. we get the much-awaited earnings report of the week after the bell, apple set to report fiscal second quarter results. the iphone maker prepped investors for kind of a weak release back in january. we talk about what to expect with one of apple ooh's earliest investors, famed venture capitalist alan patricof. he is next. ♪ ♪

for businesses of all sizes, there are a lot of choices when it comes to your internet and technology needs. when you choose comcast business internet, you choose the largest, fastest reliable network. you choose advanced security for total peace of mind. and you choose a next generation 10g network that's always improving, getting faster; more reliable; and more intelligent to keep you ready for today and tomorrow. the choice is clear: make your business future ready with the network from the most innovative company. comcast business. powering possibilities™. known as a loving parent. known for lessons that matter. known for lessons that matter. known for being a free spirit. no one wants to be known for cancer, but a treatment can be. keytruda is known to treat cancer, fda-approved for 16 types of cancer. one of those cancers is advanced nonsquamous, non-small cell lung cancer, where keytruda is approved to be used with certain chemotherapies as your first treatment

if you do not have an abnormal "egfr" or "alk" gene. keytruda can cause your immune system to attack healthy parts of your body during or after treatment. this may be severe and lead to death. see your doctor right away if you have cough, shortness of breath, chest pain, diarrhea, severe stomach pain, severe nausea or vomiting, headache, light sensitivity, eye problems, irregular heartbeat, extreme tiredness, constipation, dizziness or fainting, changes in appetite, thirst, or urine, confusion, memory problems, muscle pain or weakness, fever, rash, itching, or flushing. there may be other side effects. tell your doctor about all your medical conditions, including immune system problems, if you've had or plan to have an organ or stem cell transplant, received chest radiation or have a nervous system problem. depending on the type of cancer, keytruda may be used alone or in combination with other treatments, and is also being studied in hundreds of clinical trials, exploring ways to treat even more types of cancer. it's tru. keytruda from merck. see all the types of cancer keytruda is known for at keytruda.com and ask your doctor if keytruda could be

right for you. at adp, we use data-driven insights to design hr solutions to provide flexible pay options and greater workforce visibility today, so you can have more success tomorrow. ♪ one thing leads to another, yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ ♪ the biggest ideas inspire new ones. 30 years ago, state street created an etf that inspired the world to invest differently. it still does. what can you do with spy? ♪ ♪ your best defense against erosion and cavities is strong enamel- nothing beats it. new pronamel active shield actively shields the enamel to defend against erosion and cavities. i think that this product is a gamechanger for my patients- it really works.

liz: okay, to 20 the minutes to go before the closing bell rings and the world's largest company reports earnings. investors are wading -- waiting on tender hooks for apple's results. will they beat, match or miss the predictions which guided investors to the a 5 -- 5% revenue decline? analysts will also look at the tech giant's share buybacks and the dividend, and the share buybacks are expected to come in at about $90 billion. what else are they going to do with the big cash pile? let's bring in one of the very first investors in apple, and had he not sold his $300,000 investment pre-ipo, yeah, 40 years ago, would be worth $7 billion as of march 28th.

famed venture capitalist and prime time partners' cofounder and chairman alan patricof is here in a fox business exclusive. alan, i know you probably cringe when people say, yeah, had you and your clients -- because you gave some of them the shares not sold -- that you'd be worth a lot. you're worth a unthe now because what you know about apple, at least for us, is really important. what will you be looking for from the apple report in. >> welk you know, i get the same impression everybody has, nobody has any advanced information, and the general indication they're going to have a down quarter. my impression is it's not going to change that much in the next quarter. but, you know, apple is a long-term company. it's a company that's here forever. and it's, you know, going to be a mainstay of this economy, you know, just pass by a store at 7:00 at might and see people standing on line. you know this is a product and a line that's going to be here

forever. they hit the consumer revolution early on, led it and continue to lead it. and when you think about them buying back $90 billion worth of stock, i mean, it's a staggering amount of money, and it's only a part of their cash reserve. but i wouldn't be concerned about apple in the long-term basis. it seems to continually come out whether it's the iphone 14 or the next ipad version or, you know, everything they do, their wearables. wearables is doing very well, i even have my apple watch which i just got, just got not more than six months ago and use it daily for my running purposes. or, actually, i should say walk fast. [laughter] liz: yeah. i've got mine on too the, alan. tell me what metric you would be looking at most closely. there are so many. everybody wants to know about the share buybacks, the dividends. but the india plan?

obviously, they are shifting. i can't say onshoring, they're onshoring to india from china, and it was in 2020, alan, that they stopped giving guidance because they simply could not see, you know, 10 peat in front of their face during the lockdowns. do you think they'll start guidance back up again? >> well, i think we're seeing that. there was an indication of what this quarter was going to be, and we'll see how close it comes. you know, during the pandemic who could public and i think that you're going to see a shift, as you said, from china to other places including, hopefully, more activity in the united states, more investing in manufacturing here. but i just think that it's, you know, we've gone through supply chain problems, that's over. the consumer right now is a little confused as to where the market economy's going, and so we've got a slight decline.

but long term i still see this as a great company that's going to be here forever. liz: we're going to be the also listening very closely to tim cook's conference call after the bell. conference calls have been interesting when it comes to big tech the time around. venture beat has been counting how many times ceos mention a.i. or artificial intelligence on their earnings call, and alphabet mentioned it 50 times, meta, 49. microsoft, 46. is this a fad or is it something real? i mean, meta verse or not mentioned that much anymore. >> oh, i don't think you can possibly think of this as a fad. this is a, this is -- [laughter] i used the word forever. i feel that i've been part of so many revolutions during my 50-plus years in the venture business whether it was originally in the chip revolution and then initial computer revolution and apple with the personal computer

revolution in the late '70s, the cellular revolution, and then we had the internet in the '90s. i think that a.i. and every aspect of it, chatgpt, is a, probably the most, the single most dramatic development i've seen in my career. liz: wow z. and i think it's going to have a profound influence in education, in medicine, in the every arena. and i think the biggest impact will probably be in drug discoveries because, you know, everything can be accelerated with the abilitied to do testing and modeling in a very short, much shorter time frame than we had in the past. i think it's really, really exciting, and anybody who doesn't, you know, make themselves aware of what's happening, every company that i know of has someone or some group working in this area now. so this is no fair fad, this is going to be -- no fad, this is

going to be here for a long time, and it's profound. liz: profound. i know you're going next week to get a venture capitalist award. congratulations on that. vcs out there, especially since the silicon valley bank disaster, have gotten stingy. what are you seeing on hand scape right now? what are you hearing when it comes to them opening their wallets and for what? >> honestly, i don't think it has any, there's any implication of what happened to svb or signature in terms of where the venture environment at the moment is. i think the venture environment got overheated in '21 and '2 2 the 2. there were some -- '22. there were some excessive valuations, and i think we're just seeing a return to realism particularly in the later stage, the b rounds and maybe even in the a rounds. i think in the early stage, which is mostly what i do in prime time partners with early stage investments at the pre-seed e and seed, there

really hasn't been too much change, but if there's been a change, it's a decline for the better and more realism. i think the biggest profound is in these follow-on investments where where people have exalted concepts in the last round and what the next round was going to be. and i think they're finding out that the next rounds are not that much greater than the last round or perhaps modestly above or modestly below. but sanity is definitely prevailing in the venture industry at the moment. liz: sanity or, as we said, stinginess. alan, it's great to see you. i know it's always the boom and bust, but congratulations on the award, and we appreciate you coming in ahead of apple earn earnings. apple down just about 1% ahead of the numbers. tomorrow the, by the way, speaking of vcs, venture capitalist extraordinaire david saks, angel investments in the past have included airbnb, facebook, palantir.

what else, david? we're going to get his opinions on all things that are happening right now in the tech world, a.i. and is what's going on in san francisco with the, yeah, the commercial real estate disaster. so much to talk to him about. dow jones industrials down nearly 300 points and the kre banking regional index down 5.5%. ♪ ♪ i'm so glad we did this. i'm so glad we did this. i'm so glad we did this. i'm so glad we did this. i'm so... ...glad we did this. [kid plays drums] life is for living. let's partner for all of it. i'm so glad we did this. edward jones

. . really to worry ab out. and then when i was diagnosed, there was just such a big weight put on my shoulders. every night, i felt like maybe i won't wake up tomorrow. but there's no way that this is going to win. i'm winning. announcer: st jude children's research hospital works day after day to find cures and save the lives of children with cancer

and other life-threatening diseases. beth stewart: there are treatments that were invented within the walls of this hospital that have continued to improve the cure rates for pediatric cancer, and st. jude's not going to stop until every single kid gets that chance to walk out of the doors of this hospital cancer free. lila: if it weren't for st. jude, i wouldn't be sitting here today. peter: this place has really shown us the strength of what can happen when so many people work together as one. people want to be a part of the cure. announcer: thanks to generous donors like you, families never receive a bill from st. jude for treatment, travel, housing, or food so they can focus on helping their child live. for just $19 a month, you'll help us continue the life-saving research and treatment these kids need. join with your debit or credit card right now and we'll send you this st. jude t-shirt that you can proudly wear to show your support. christen: i think it's the most worthwhile place

to put your money when it comes to childhood cancer. lachaka: because it takes a heart for somebody to say that i'm willing to give to st. jude so that they can help save more lives. that's huge. damon: our giving to st. jude is right up there with our mortgage. that's the priority that we put on giving to st. jude. announcer: please call or go online right now. become a partner in hope today.

hi, i'm jason and i've lost 202 pounds on golo. being a veteran, the transition from the military into civilian life causes a lot of stress. i ate a lot for stress. golo and release has helped me with managing that stress and allowing me to focus on losing weight. for anyone struggling with weight and stress-related weight gain, i recommend golo to you. this is a real thing. this is not a hoax. you follow the plan, you'll lose weight.

♪. liz: just over six minutes before the chosing bell rings. we need to check back on pacwest, western alliance. these are two of the regional banks that are just getting hammered. pacwest down 52%. western alliance down 39% at the moment. these names are dragging down the entire sector, questions swirl whether the fdic will have to raise 250,000-dollar deposit insurance limit. charlie gasparino scoop about possible changes to that limit. caught the eye of popular financial and. >> point out pacwest this time last year was a 40-dollar stock. now it is a penny stock. that will give you an idea how difficult the regional bank

crisis is. it is continuing and cascading at this point. this is what the fed is thinking about, bet it from senior wall street executives that deal with the treasury explicitly or defacto make deposit insurance cover everything or much more than $250,000. liz: how? >> don't know how. just telling you. fdi. is funded by a tax, a tax,t-a-x, that comes out of your deposits. jpmorgan another bank being bailed out essentially funding, because they have the most deposits. if you have deposits at jpmorgan you will pay to fund the fdic pool to cover everything. we don't know that this definitely would happen. i know they're talking about it.

i have sources close to the treasury department. we took a bet. i said don't think it will happen. watch it, by may 15th what he thinks it will happen. this is spoken about at high levels. that is kind of a bandaid solution, liz. these banks are impaired in ways it is hard to say just okay, let's cover all the deposits, we won't have a bank deposit run. remember you can get almost the same type of protection on a money market fund with four times the interest rate. liz: yeah. >> money market funds in very short term securities. you go to vanguard you can get, three, 4%. what do you get on a bank account? 1%, right? liz: do you -- >> a lot have loans in commercial real estate. they are kind of under water. i'm sorry? liz: quickly, pacwest, western alliance says it has not hired

anybody. >> this ask what i'm earring from these folks. western alliance may have a hard time finding a buyer which what they're saying. by the way i got the same answer from first republic, we're not for sale. the top guys there okay, that is because they woken buy you which is true. liz: you know what is moving higher? gold. >> gary gensler came out with a amassing statement. we know there are is instability in markets. we should get it put it up. did in 2008, if you're fooling and read that statement. liz: times of increased volatility uncertainty the sec is focused identifying prosecuting any form of misconduct. >> he is putting short sellers on notice. if you take advantage spreading rumors false about pacwest or anyone else we're coming after you. they did it had during the

financial crisis. that is how you know this is bad. liz: i agree with you. barrick gold having a shiny session. it is up considerable amount, bring in the president, ceo, mark bristow. i want to check. we didn't get that chart up here. we do have your stock up 2% and, i will tell you something, gold itself if we can look at that, that has been having a bang-up session over the past couple of days. we're at 2057 per troy unions. that is not too far from the all-time record. what do you attribute the fear? this is fear and a classic safe haven trade? >> absolutely, liz. hello, nice to see you again. it is exactly that. people have been talking about the fact that interest rate, risk of interest rate decline might be driving all this. that is not true. gold is measuring the global risk. we're seeing it manifest itself

in the u.s. banking system at the moment but remember, we have had more than 10 years of zero interest rate policy. that impacts paper money and gold is one currency that no one can print. liz: you know what is interesting is, you could triangulate through the movement in barrick shares. it is up 32% since silicon valley bank collapsed. to me, that is very much a gold trade. you also have to give yourself credit here. you had some very strong numbers. where do you sense people are looking not just for gold but copper you mine as well? >> i think, we've spoken about this before. our mission is to develop a sustainably profitable gold company. we see copper strategic as cold

and pressure. not only people invest in gold, if you have a solid, profitable gold company, as you have seen recently you can gear that for higher return on equity. liz: indeed. you're probably looking into the rear view, tough times are behind us at least for now. gold jumping dramatically, ticker symbol, gold, barrick gold. thank you, mark bristow. markets are finishing in the red, pretty deeply here. [closing bell rings] >> s&p down 29. nasdaq losing 62. the regional banking index dropping 5 1/2%. we have david saks in a fox business exclusive. ♪. larry: hello, folks, welcome to "kudlow," i'm larr