Before the Bell With Roman & Zain

Before the Bell Podcast with Roman & Zain gives you the market insights you need to start your day. Each episode breaks down stock market trends, economic news, and investing strategies in a clear and approachable way. Whether you’re new to finance or a seasoned investor, Roman & Zain help you stay informed, confident, and ready for the opening bell.

Before the Bell With Roman & Zain is a news podcast hosted by Roman Zelenetskyi, Zain Qureshi, with 71 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Roman Zelenetskyi, Zain Qureshi hosts Before the Bell With Roman & Zain, a news show with 71 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

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  Episode #33

  The Market Prices a Hike, Walmart Breaks a Six-Year Streak, and Warsh Takes the Stage

  Aug 26, 202616 minS2

  The debate is over as money markets have now fully priced a Federal Reserve rate hike by December. Roman breaks down the July PCE print showing core inflation stuck at 3.3% alongside stalled consumer spending, and why that specific combination sealed the hawkish case. Walmart posted its slowest US comparable sales growth in six years and fell 9%, with management naming $4 gasoline as the direct cause, while off-price retailer Ross beat and jumped 7%, a textbook consumer trade-down signal. Plus: consumer confidence falls to a seven-month low with expectations collapsing 7.8%, Trump shifts to "economic warfare" on Iran with new Treasury sanctions, Canada retaliates with tariffs on $20 billion of US goods effective September 8th, gold notches a fifth straight weekly gain, Nvidia reports tonight in the AI trade's biggest test of the quarter, and Kevin Warsh delivers his first Jackson Hole keynote Friday with the bond market that punished him after July watching closely.

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  Episode #32

  The Bond Market Breaks 5.3%, Hormuz Talks Expire, and the SPR Hits a 44-Year Low

  Aug 19, 202615 minS2

  The story quickly moved out of the stock market and into the bond market this week. Roman breaks down the 30-year Treasury yield touching 5.34%, its highest since 2007 in a synchronized global selloff that also pushed Japanese, German, French, and UK long-term borrowing costs to multi-decade highs, driven by sticky inflation, a $432 billion July deficit, and an AI-financed corporate borrowing wave competing directly with the Treasury for capital. Meanwhile the 60-day US-Iran negotiating window expired Monday with no deal and no new talks planned, two vessels were struck in the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, and the Strategic Petroleum Reserve fell to 293.4 million barrels, its lowest level since 1982 leaving America's oil shock absorber dangerously thin. Plus: Home Depot beats but calls housing "frozen," retail earnings test the consumer, gas prices run 29% above last year, and this morning's Treasury intervention in the long end of the curve.

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  Episode #31

  CPI Cools to 3.4%, Payrolls Contract, and Hormuz Becomes a Reparations Fight

  Aug 12, 202614 minS2

  This morning's July CPI print landed exactly on consensus as headline inflation cooled to 3.4%, core to 2.5%, with shelter accounting for two-thirds of the monthly increase. Roman breaks down why that's better news for the Fed's arithmetic than for anyone's household budget: inflation is still outpacing wage growth at 3.2%, and average hourly earnings actually fell over the past year. Meanwhile, the July jobs report showed the American economy shed 23,000 positions, the first outright contraction of the cycle, cutting September rate hike odds from 67% to 52%, even as Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack publicly argues "now is the time to act." Plus: the Hormuz standoff deteriorates into a war reparations fight as Iran rules out negotiations and the US Navy fires on a commercial vessel in the Gulf of Oman, CoreWeave jumps 18% and Super Micro 9% on strong AI infrastructure results, On Holding posts its worst day on record, and a full recap of a week that started at record highs and faded for four straight sessions on a single variable.

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  Episode #30

  The AI Hedge Fund That Blew Up, a 40-Year Yen Low, Non-Ai earnings!

  Aug 5, 20269 minS2

  Away from the Fed and the MAG7, three other stories moved real money this week — and they're all connected by the same root cause. Roman breaks down the spectacular collapse of Situational Awareness, a $45 billion AI hedge fund run by a 25-year-old former OpenAI researcher that lost 67% in July on 4x leverage and was forced to sell its entire public portfolio to Citadel in a single block trade. The Japanese yen touched a 40-year low against the dollar on the same surging Treasury yield story that's pushing mortgage rates higher for ordinary Americans right now. Plus: Coca-Cola and Sherwin-Williams beat and raise, GE Healthcare posts a record order backlog, and a full market recap connecting the week's rising yields to hedge fund leverage and currency stress.

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  Episode #28

  Eleven Nights of Strikes, Brent at $95, and Alphabet's AI Verdict

  Jul 22, 202614 minS2

  Two stories are fighting for control of this market and neither is winning outright. Roman goes on to break down the eleventh consecutive night of US airstrikes on Iran, the deaths of three American service members, and a new Houthi blockade on Saudi shipping that threatens to open an entirely separate regional front, all while Brent crude spikes above $95 for the third distinct repricing event in five weeks. At the same time, Alphabet and Tesla report earnings after the bell in what may be the most important test yet of whether AI infrastructure spending is actually generating returns, following a chip sector rebound driven by strong Taiwan and South Korea export data. Plus: a new UK prime minister, three consecutive oil price cycles hitting American households in two months, and why Kevin Warsh's July 28th decision keeps getting harder to predict.

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