March 23, 2025
This Alternative Investor’s Take on How Trump Policies Weigh on Businesses
WSJ's Take On the WeekAbout this episode
On WSJ’s Take On the Week, co-host Telis Demos and guest co-host Miriam Gottfried dive into a smorgasbord of forthcoming macroeconomic data that will illustrate how the economy is faring since President Trump’s inauguration. Then, Telis shares what investment bank Jefferies’s forthcoming fiscal-quarter report could tell us about the state of mergers and acquisitions on Wall Street. And it’s baseball season, folks! The co-hosts talk about the latest deal between the San Francisco Giants and private-equity firm Sixth Street. Later on the show, Telis and Miriam discuss whether middle-market businesses, which include a huge swath of the American workforce, are holding strong as the threat of tariffs continues and chatter about economic uncertainty intensifies with Michael Smith. He’s the co-head of credit at Ares Management, an alternative investment manager that lends to more than 500 midmarket companies. This is WSJ’s Take On the Week where co-hosts Gunjan Banerji, lead writer for Live Markets, and Telis Demos, Heard on the Street’s banking and money columnist, cut through the noise and dive into markets, the economy and finance—the big trades, key players and business news ahead. Have an idea for a future guest or episode? How can we better help you take on the week? We’d love to hear from you. Email the show at takeontheweek@wsj.com . To watch the video version of this episode, visit our WSJ Podcasts YouTube channel or the video page of WSJ.com . Further Reading To read more from co-host Telis Demos, catch up on Tariffs Are a Risk for Midsize Businesses, and Their Lenders . To read more from guest co-host Miriam Gottfried, catch up on An Insurer Taps Its Financial-Adviser Network to Sell Private-Market Funds . Google Strikes $32 Billion Deal for Cybersecurity Startup Wiz America’s Pastime Is Being Completely Transformed—by Japan MLB Plots a New TV Model After Striking Out With ESPN For more coverage of the markets and your investments, head to WSJ.com , WSJ’s Heard on The Street Column , and WSJ’s Live Markets blog . Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter . Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices