Money Life With Chuck Jaffe Daily Podcast

Author James Fok discusses his new book 'Financial Cold War,' about economic relations between the United States and China, noting that the longer current tensions linger, the worse the situation gets for both the countries and their citizens. Making the situation worse, Fok says, are that people in both countries are finding it harder to get by, and with politicians glossing over domestic issues and deflecting to an outside enemy, it is stoking the flames of nationalism and making it harder to avoid a damaging economic donnybrook.Also on the show, David Goodsell of the Natixis Investment Managers' Center for Investor Insight discusses a recent survey showing that investors have overblown return expectations that their advisers are struggling to bring in line with reality, and Eric Lynch, managing director at Scharf Investments and portfolio manager on the Scharf Funds talks in the Market Call about balancing upside potential against downside risk.

Both JJ Kinahan and David Trainer gave takes on the Federal Reserve and its influence over the current stock market on today's show. Kinahan, the chief market strategist at TD Ameritrade, says that while he isn't expecting any real surprises from the central bank, the market is craving clarity and guidance before it will settle down and be less volatile and more predictable. Trainer, the founder and president at New Constructs -- who discusses Shake Shack and Carvana in the Danger Zone segment -- says that the Fed 'is not going to take the punch bowl away,' but warns that it will taper its economic relief down to a few drops. Also on the show, Michael Wagner of Omnia Family Wealth talks about how the crisis in the Ukraine will hit home for domestic investors and consumers, and Mark Yusko, chief investment officer at Morgan Creek Asset Management, talks about taking an endowment approach and making innovation an asset class while he discusses ETFs in the Market Call.

Technical analyst Michael Sincere says that the 13-year bear market has set the stage for a bear market on the horizon, though he doesn't know whether the next big decline will be steep and fast or a long, slow, two-bad-days, one-good-day pattern that maximizes the pain. Sincere says he is watching the 50-day moving average and will stay constructive on the market so long as the indexes are above that benchmark. Also on the show, there are discussions about tackling a rising-rate environment and using real assets to help hedge and hold off inflation; the former features Chris Oberbeck, chairman and chief executive officer at Saratoga Investment Corp. talking about business-development companies (BDCs), while the latter interview is with Christopher Huemmer, senior investment strategist for ETFs at Northern Trust. And in the Market Call, Michael Loukas, chief executive officer at TrueMark Investments talks about low-volatility stocks and artificial intelligence and deep-learning plays.

Simeon Hyman, global investment strategist at ProShares, says that the market's rocky start to 2022 has been built around headlines and not the underlying fundamentals, which means that investors should not be changing expectations. He believes that the combination of rising rates, higher-but-controlled inflation and solid economic underpinnings will result in a positive stock market going forward. He does note that investors will want to turn toward dividend stocks to protect against rising rates, but says they will want to avoid TIPS - inflation-protected Treasury bonds - because they don't perform as most people expect during rising-rate environments. Another guest talking inflation is economist Kamran Afshar, who runs the Kamran Afshar Data Analytics Center and uses modeling to help companies forecast and project business conditions, and he discusses how inflation is impacting different groups of people uniquely and that how much trouble it causes an individual turns out to be mostly a factor of the perso

Kevin Mahn, president and chief investment officer at Hennion & Walsh says that investors have been getting ahead of themselves and the Federal Reserve -- wildly anticipating the possibilities -- and should instead wait for the Fed to taper its bond purchases, raise rates twice and start shrinking its balance sheet. 'Then,' Mahn says, 'we can get a good assessment if inflationary pressures are starting to subside and if the economy is continuing to grow.' Mahn expects the economy and the stock market to be in 'still growing but slowing' mode for 2022, even as rate hikes and inflation play out. Also on the show, Noland Langford of Left Brain Investment Research suggests that investors looking for improved returns during the current rate-hike cycle consider corporate high-yield bonds and tax-free municipal bonds as unlikely but interesting alternatives for generating growth. And in the Market Call, Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities -- manager of the Wedbush ETFMG Global Cloud Technology ETF -- talks cloud and

Paul Espinosa, lead manager at Seafarer Overseas Value, says that many central banks have been raising rates ahead of the Federal Reserve -- which is not the usual case -- and while those rate increases have led to some stock market struggles, the support for the currency creates more investment security and opportunity for long-term investors. He says investors will need to be patient and picky, noting that emerging markets may struggle but will still offer up plenty of winners for good stockpickers. Also on the show: Ted Rossman of Bankrate.com discusses the troubles that half of Americans have experienced with membership services and recurring charges on credit cards -- and how to avoid falling into the same trap -- we revisit a recent question Chuck answered on the various methods for paying off credit-card debt, and Nathan Rex of Eigenvector Capital talks value investing in the Market Call.

Jeff Schulze, investment strategist at ClearBridge Investments, says that while headlines have focused on economic risks and the tightening moves of the Federal Reserve, the firm's  analysis of recession risk shows that most economic factors are still favorable, suggesting that there will be expansion -- accompanied by stock market gains -- over the course of 2023, with the prospect of a true economic downturn occurring next year at the earliest. In the Danger Zone, David Trainer of New Constructs talks about how a huge percentage of companies in the Standard and Poor's 500 are overstating earnings for reasons that are only uncovered by digging into the footnotes; he singles out Amazon.com, Ford Motor Co. and Block and explains why things could get ugly when the market figures out the problem. Also on the show, Barry Metzger of Charles Schwab talks about the firm's latest survey of traders and how they are likely to respond to the market's sluggish start to the year and, in the Market Call, Maury Fertig of Re

Chris Maxey, senior vice president for investments at Wealthspire, says that investors --especially those close to retirement -- should be anxious for interest rates to re-set higher so that they can lock in better return stream, even though they will suffer through volatility while the bond market goes through the transition. Maxey also noted that investors should expect January's rough stretch of volatility to be repeated several times throughout 2022, making this a good time to rebalance a portfolio to stay on target through the back-and-forth. In 'The NAVigator' segment, Mike Taggart of Taggart Fund Intelligence -- the recently appointed executive director of the Active Investment Company Alliance -- talks about how investors should expect closed-end funds to perform in rising-rate cycles and whether investors should bank on senior-loan funds while rates are going up. And in the Market Call, Chris Krumenacker, senior equity research analyst at Bryn Mawr Trust, talks about where he is finding buys amid cha

Leah Bennett, president at Westwood Wealth Management, says that the time when investors could buy pretty much anything and make money has changed, which is going to force investors to look for sustainable cash flows and solid balance sheets, while also maintaining proper diversification to guard against market surprises because 'any major downturn we have gone through has been lead by a sector being overvalued.' Also on the show, Tom Lydon of ETFTrends.com makes an international fund that hedges away the currency risk -- and that has strongly benefitted early this year as a result -- his pick for 'ETF of the Week,' and we revisit a recent interview with Rob Arnott, founding chairman of Research Affiliates

Marko Papic, chief strategist at Clocktower Group, says that he expects the market to bounce around through the end of the first quarter with January's setback mostly over at this point. Still, in a wide-ranging interview during which he compared cryptocurrency to rock-and-roll music, he noted that he's not buying into the dip because he foresees real sluggishness while the market waits to see not just what the Federal Reserve will do but the amplitude of the central bank's moves. Until that gets sorted out, Papic noted that he is struggling to be bullish on domestic markets. Also on the show, Anuj Nayar discusses a Lending Club study which showed an alarmingly high number of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck, with a surprisingly high number of the people struggling actually earning six-figure salaries; in the Market Call, Will Rhind of GraniteShares discusses the 'XOUT' methodology that effectively looks at reasons to weed out stocks poised for future sluggishness, slowdowns and declines, while hanging o

Adam Grimes, president of Talon Advisors, says that the longer the market goes sideways without any real downturn, the more the long-term probabilities favor a rebound, but Grimes noted that any potential serious weakness will be here late in the first quarter or by the second. That said, he is watching the current weakness in cryptocurrencies and how crypto has been leading the equity markets; if crypto troubles continue or grow, therefore, he could see more potential for downturn going forward, and could create an environment with significant selling pressure that investors will want to sit out. Also on the show, Chuck talks banks and financial-services stocks with David Ellison of the Hennessy Large-Cap and Small-Cap Financial Funds, discussed how investors should be adjusting portfolios for inflation with Tom Siomades, chief investment officer at AE Wealth Management, and covers how Americans' financial priorities have been changing during the pandemic with Mitch Kime of Key Bank.

Angelo Kourkafas, investment strategist for Edward Jones, says that while he expects heightened volatility for the year ahead, he's not expecting something worse like a recession or a market crash. No matter the conditions, however, he says that investors should be watching to see if the Federal Reserve can avoid a policy mistake, noting that 'Investors should not fear the first hike, but should fear the last one,' noting that the economy should absorb the first moves easily but any potential problems will come later. Also on the show, Matthew Rados of Gametime.co talks Super Bowl ticket prices, why they are setting records this year and the best time to buy them if you are hoping for a 'bargain,' David Trainer of New Constructs puts a popular name in the hot pet-care industry into 'The Danger Zone,' saying the business is the second coming of Pets.com, a high-flyer of the Internet Bubble days that wound up worthless, and Charlie Bobrinskoy, vice chairman at Ariel Investments, talks 'Warren Buffett value-styl

Brian Nick, chief investment strategist at Nuveen, says investors are facing modest earnings and economic growth need to make their expectations for 2022 modest as well; he notes that despite the bad start to the year on the market, he expects things to get better from here and for the market to finish the year in positive territory, just with gains that reflect that moderate outlook instead of mirroring the big results of 2021. Also on the show, Rob Shaker, of Shaker Financial, says that the market's January swoon -- which widened the discounts on closed-end funds -- took investors to the point in the discount cycle where the bargains are biggest and it's time to buy, and Matt King, president of King Wealth Advisors, talks about  mixing value and momentum factors to find the right mutual funds and ETFs to buy now.

James Hickey, managing director of alternative strategies at Spearhead Capital, discusses investment opportunities to boost yields outside of traditional stocks and bonds, and discusses how important those choices are now in light of higher inflation that he says is permanent and that has him highly negative on traditional fixed-income investments for the foreseeable future. Also on the show, Tom Lydon, chief executive officer at ETFTrends.com, makes a fund that donates all management fees to a charity his pick as 'ETF of the Week,' and in the Market Call, Brian Frank of the Frank Value Fund talks absolute value investing and how the markets recent troubles have presented him with the chance to get fully invested again and at reasonable prices.

David Jilek, chief investment strategist at Gateway Investment Advisers says that the market of late has been a battle between 'The Buy-the-Dip Crowd' and 'The Run for the Hills Brigade,' and while he makes a case for each argument, he says investors may want to position themselves between those two factions, succeeding more by staying in the middle than by picking sides. In today's Left Brain Thinking segment, Freddy Garcia of Left Brain Wealth Management takes on the classic '4 percent rule' for amassing sufficient retirement savings, noting that today's rising inflation and slowing growth conditions may require asset-allocation changes to reach targets. In the Book Interview, author Rupert Russell discusses his new book 'Price Wars: How the Commodities Markets Made Our Chaotic World,' and how commodities and supply-chain issues have the power to topple governments, and James Abate of the Centre Funds talks stocks and staying focused on the long term in the Market Call.

Toni Turner, president of TrendStar Group, says that  while she expects the market's bullish case to win out over the longer term, right now the tape is showing a fight between bulls and bears over issues like higher inflation and interest rates, creating what she called a 'tradeable low,' which is a buying opportunity where purchases are backed up by protective stops to limit downside risk in case the market 'gets cranky again.' In the Book Interview, Spencer Jakab of the Wal Street Journal discusses 'The Revolution That Wasn't: GameStop, Reddit, and the Fleecing of Small Investors,' which is out today, and in the Market Call, veteran financial talk show host Moe Ansari of Compak Asset Management is talking stocks based on his take that mixes technicals with fundamentals.

Sheraz Mian, director of research at Zacks Investment Research, says that while the Federal Reserve may have stopped using the word 'transitory' to describe inflation, it's still the right word for most issues currently facing the market, noting that once current headline-driving situations like the supply-chain crisis and labor shortages and inflation can be sorted out, the earnings picture and growth outlook remains strong. He expects the market to struggle for another quarter or more, but to look much better in the second half of the year. David Trainer of New Constructs revisits five successful Danger Zone picks from 2021 -- UBER, AFRM, RIVN, DASH and WRBY -- that he thinks are falling knives, still dangerous despite being down more than 40 percent from their peaks, and nit he Market Call, Michael Robinson,  chief technology strategist for Money Map Press, notes that there aren't many great charts to be looking at right now, and he discusses how he is picking and choosing through the increasing volatility

Markus Schomer, chief economist at PineBridge Investments, says that the big economic headlines and numbers are creating a whipsaw of reactions, which he expects to be reflected ni a 'yo-yo market -- up-and-down, up-and-down, up-and-down' for much of the year. Schomer notes that the economic cycles of nations and regions are not in sync right now, contributing to the back-and-forth. Dncan Farley, manager of the BlueBay Destra International Event-Driven Credit Fund, says those same economic events are creating opportunities for him to find good companies with bad balance sheets or caught in sticky situations, a strategy that can generate above-market returns in time. Also on the show, Ed Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, talks technicals and trading in this volatile market, and Jeff Lipton, head of municipal research and strategy for Oppenheimer and Co., talks about how bonds in general -- and munis in particular -- are likely to fare as rates start to rise, tax-law proposals hit Congress and more.

Elliott Gue, editor at the Energy & Income Advisor, says that the slowdown in energy exploration and development since 2014 -- that was accelerated by the economic shutdown around coronavirus in 2020 -- has created a supply squeeze that will generate 'a prolonged up-cycle in oil prices and natural gas prices' over the next few years. He's in talking stocks in the Market Call, but this show also includes Tom Lydon of ETFTrends.com making a senior-loan fund his ETF of the Week, Ted Rossman of CreditCards.com discussing the site's survey on financial infidelity and the effect secret-keeping can have in personal relationships, and portfolio manager Conor Muldoon of Causeway Capital covering the market and the troubles he sees ahead for the markets, but also the prospects for success in value investing.

Matt Peron, director of research at Janus Henderson Investors, says that the market cycle still has room to run, but that the rally is undergoing a reset as it awaits more clarity from the Federal Reserve. As a result, he suggests that investors be patient and wait out the current declines rather than buying into them, noting that the market faces a series of "speed bumps" over the first half of the year before domestic and international markets will resume their climb higher. Also on the show, James Burton of Personal Capital discusses the firm's 2022 Wealth & Wellness Index, Chuck answers a question on the math behind deciding when to take Social Security benefits, and David Brady of Brady Investment Counsel talks growth stocks in the Market Call.