Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Brian Overby, senior markets strategist at Ally, says that the market is in a good place to have a Santa Claus rally into the end of the year, boosted by the strong consumer, but he noted that good news could carry into 2023 with an economy that could actually pull off a soft landing so long as employment, inflation and spending numbers stay where expected and continue current trends. Overby noted that while current conditions are rocky, it makes for a selective buying opportunity while waiting for the Federal Reserve to show its cards for the new year. Also on the show, Marc Zeitoun of Columbia Threadneedle discusses a survey showing that advisers and investors are looking for more flexible strategies to get by in rough markets, David Trainer of New Constructs puts a low-priced maker of oat milk and similar products in "The Danger Zone" and, in the Market Call, Bernie Horn, manager of the Polaris Global Value Fund talks about buying stocks in the messy market conditions currently being experienced around the world.

Jacob Channel, senior economist at LendingTree, says that while everyone is counting on the Federal Reserve to beat back inflation and tackle the economic problems facing the nation, 'the reality is that some of the issues we are facing aren't the kind of issues that the Fed has the ability to fix." He warns that if global supply chains struggle, prices will remain high no matter what happens with interest rates, and a worst-case scenario would be stagflation where unemployment is rising but prices email high; while that is not his base case for what's next, he expects a recession in 2023 as the price paid for getting a handle on inflation and returning the economy to more normal times. Also on the show, Michael Grayson, portfolio manager for three interval funds from First Trust Capital Management, says that investors should be giving up some liquidity to get the flexibility to invest in assets that their standard mutual fund or ETF can't hold responsibly, allowing investors to generate decent returns at times when the rest of the market is struggling. Plus, Jamie Dunaway-Seale of Clever Real Estate discusses the site's recent survey showing that a surprising number of home sellers are feeling remorse for the move they made, and Chuck answer's a listener's question on where to park short-term cash now to generate yield responsibly without taking on too much risk.

Barry Metzger, managing director of trading and education at Charles Schwab, says that the firm's latest trader sentiment survey shows that nearly 60% of traders feel like the United States is already in a recession or will be in one by the end of the year, with nearly that entire group believing that the economic slowdown will last less than one year. These traders -- investors who make 80 or more transactions in a year, but not part of the day-trading community -- are largely bearish, but believe there are opportunities in energy, health care and consumer staples. They are rotating toward value stocks and fixed income. In the ETF of the Week, Tom Lydon of VettaFi talks about a fund that was up double-digits just a week ago off of the inflation news, a move so big that it moved the ETF above its 200-day moving average and put it back into buying territory. Chuck answers a listener's question on cryptocurrency trading and the concept of "not your keys, not your coins," and the show revisits a recent interview with Jeffrey Cleveland, chief economist at Payden & Rygel.

Jeff Spiegel, U.S. head of iShares megatrend and international ETFs at BlackRock, says that high inflation is not a megatrend that will last decades, but it has created an environment in which investors will want to be more selective, looking for compelling reasons for long-0term growth. Specifically, he identified infrastructure and clean energy plays, health-care innovation and cybersecurity and robotics as industries with the juice to grow now but the potential to keep growing for decades. Also on the show, Rachna Ramachandran, an analyst on the high-yield strategies team at GMO, says that junk bonds yielding 9 percent today are priced as if default rates could reach 14 percent, dramatically higher than even the most bearish observers expect, which ultimately is making it worthwhile for investors to take on more high-yield risk. And Chuck goes Off the News with veteran financial columnist Allan Sloan of The Washington Post, who notes that the storied stock winners of just a year ago -- the FAANG stocks most notably among them -- have turned into today's biggest losers.

Victoria Fernandez, chief market strategist at Crossmark Global Investments, says that while there are real positives to take away from recent market activity, the lag effect from Federal Reserve actions will slow growth, earnings and profit margins sufficiently to create a small recession in the spring or summer of 2023. She recommends selectively managing portfolios to add balance, but warns against "taking wild swings at this market because things can change too quickly and you'll get caught on the wrong side of that." Veteran technical analyst Martin Pring of Pring Turner Research says that most of the indications he is seeing on the secular trend are negative right now, which is why he is keeping powder dry waiting for signs that there is more potential for real upturns rather than short bear-market rallies. Plus, Vern Sumnicht, chief executive officer at iSectors.com, makes his debut in the Market Call talking exchange-traded funds.

Amber Fairbanks, portfolio manager at Mirova on the firm's global sustainable equity strategy, says that she thinks a recession is coming, likely early next year and while she expects it to be mild, investors and experts are mostly guessing at that because there is no real precedent for the kind of high inflation, rising rate environment we are seeing today. Fairbanks, speaking in the Market Call segment, also talked about sustainable equities, which is a good comparison for the Big Interview segment featuring Venk Reddy, chief investment officer for sustainable credit strategies at Osterweis Capital Management, who also noted that market conditions are going to favor active managers who can separate the worthy credit investments from the ones that will get caught up in negative market conditions. Plus, David Trainer of New Constructs revisits a recent Danger Zone pick that he says has joined the walking dead of zombie stocks, and Christian Mitchell discusses a recent Northwestern Mutual survey showing that investors now believe they will need $1.25 million -- more than ever -- to retire comfortably in the face of current inflationary pressures.

Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust, says that buying smart in the stock market requires making investments when they feel bad, which despite this week's rally is still the case today. He foresees some recessionary troubles for 2023, but thinks the recovery from a bear market will be "normal" and likely accomplished within two years. Thus, even while he warns that earnings and conditions will look worse in the short run, the long run will benefit people who keep investing now. Likewise, Buck Klintworth, senior vice president at Chase Investment Counsel, thinks that the overwhelming evidence in the market is that this week's rally is not the start of a new bull market, but rather is a reprieve in a downturn that has longer to run. He too believes that there are good opportunities among some sectors that don't look great in current conditions, but which might lead the way next year. Also on the show, Mitchel Penn of Oppenheimer & Co. discusses the ups and downs of business development companies in the rising-rate, high inflation market, and David Miller of the Catalyst Mutual Funds talks about insider buying and selling and its influence on certain stocks in the Market Call.

Thomas Winmill, manager of the Midas Fund and the Dividend and Income Fund, says that investors have to adjust their psychology to recognize that it is a preserve of value, and while it has struggled this year in its traditional role as a hedge against inflation, it will hold up well against bonds, where investors have been lured by higher yields that look good but can't keep pace with inflation. Winmill says central bankers around the world have been buying it and that they have a good track record for timing a recovery, which he thinks will happen gradually ove the next three to six months as the dollar weakens. Winmill notes that investors who have tried to use cryptocurrency instead of gold as an inflation hedge have suffered much larger losses than gold investors this year. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of VettaFi.com takes an unusual step -- pegged to this week's election -- as his pick for ETF of the Week is influenced by politics, and Mike Bailey, director of research at FBB Capital Partners, talks about "beat and raise" stock investing in the Market Call.

Joe Kalish, chief macro strategist at Ned Davis Research, says that the Federal Reserve will begin scaling back its rate hikes by March, creating a good environment for bonds and cash to generate a real return with minimal risk. But first, he says the stock market will likely rally down the final stretch of 2022, but that because the stock market has never bottomed ahead of the start of a recession he expects a reversal that takes out the lows before the Fed pivots and the market can start a slow recovery during or after a mild recession in mid- to late 2023. Also on the show, Ed Carson, news editor at Investor's Business Daily discusses the latest IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index and how the crush of rising prices at the gas pump outshined the euphoria from dramatically rising stock prices in October, leaving investors feeling more down in the dumps than ever, plus, in the Market Call, Tom Plumb, chief executive officer at The Plumb Funds, talks stocks and valuation and market changes in the current high-inflation, rising rate environment.

Jeffrey Cleveland, chief economist at Payden & Rygel, says that inflation could begin dropping next year while unemployment remains low, conditions which run counter to the traditional recessionary playbook. He says that the reasons for inflation over the last few years could be unique to the Covid era -- fiscal stimulus, unusual supply chains, a shift in how people spend money moving from services to goods, war in Ukraine and more -- which could set up "a great scenario" and a potential soft landing. He sees the economy side-stepping recession until late next year or 2024, and sees strong potential investment opportunities in the interim. Also on the show, David Ellison, portfolio manager covering the financial services sector for the Hennessy Funds, says that Wall Street is in recession but the rest of the economy isn't, and while Wall Street wants that kind of pain -- because a recession is good for Wall Street -- he doesn't see that kind of downturn materializing right now, agreeing with Cleveland that low unemployment and other conditions make the current downturn very different than the great financial crisis of 2008. Plus, Ted Rossman of CreditCards.com returns with the site's look at retail store charge cards, which now have an average interest rate nearing 30 percent, a new record.

Adam Ballantyne, senior analyst at Cambiar Investors, says the Federal Reserve needs to keep talking as if inflation is far from over because their job is to dare us into a recession or near recession to cure the economy's problems, but he notes that "The reality is we might be peaking right here." Half of the inInflation is driven by housing, energy and medicare costs, and Ballantyne says those items do appear to have topped or are near to it, meaning "It could very well be the case that the next Fed rate increase is the last one." Ballantyne believes that the economy can also post a reasonable recovery from the current troubles, because consumers are not overextended, so they will be ready to participate once they are certain that prices are again under control. Also on the show, Ted Rossman from CreditCards.com discusses the pitfalls that consumers have experienced and worry about when lending money to friends and family, David Trainer, of New Constructs revisits his troubling take on Shopify, which he puts squarely in "The Danger Zone," and Herb Greenberg, senior editor at Empire Financial Research, discusses his annual takedown of Medicare drug pricing and how consumers can fight a system that works against them every year to the tune of hundreds or thousands of dollars.

Shep Perkins, chief investment officer for equities at Putnam Investments, says that once the Federal Reserve sees an uptick in unemployment and the economy slowing and cuts back on rate increases, the stock market will find a bottom and begin a sharp recovery once the all-clear is sounded. While investors will need to be patient waiting for that rebound to start, Perkins says there are plenty of compelling values for patient investors who are willing to wait for investments made into today's bad news to pay off in tomorrow's profits. Also talking about compelling values on today's show is John Cole Scott, chief investment officer at Closed-End Fund Advisors, who says that today's rate uncertainty has created attractive entry points for some municipal-bond funds because they are trading at big discounts and, in many cases, have gone through a dividend cut, which reduces the potential for another cut moving forward. Plus, Jeffrey Hirsch, editor of the Stock Trader's Almanac, says the market has reached a sweet spot just as investors are feeling most crunched. Between the historic effects of the calendar -- when November starts the market's best six-month period historically -- and the impact of mid-term elections and more, Hirsch sees the market rebounding from its current recession/bear market posture, with strong potential for 2023 to be a good year for investors.

George Bory, chief investment strategist for fixed income at Allspring Global Investments, says that the Federal Reserve's forth jumbo rate hike of the year -- announced yesterday -- is not likely to trigger a deep inflation, but the central bank did leave consumers wondering just how effective the rate hikes will be at slowing and ending inflation. - hiking activity will end or, at least slow, the rise in consumer prices. Bory adds that while higher yields are not great for all financial assets, they do help fixed-income investors to generate a reasonable real return now. Tom Lydon, vice chairman at VettaFi also delves into interest rates by making a short-duration bond fund his pick for ETF of the Week honors, andi n the Market Call, Simon Lack of SL Advisors returns to the show to discuss energy infrastructure and pipeline companies.

Scott Wren, senior global market strategist for the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, says the stock market is in for some dicey moments heading into 2023 and through the first few months of the year, but he is calling for the Standard & Poor's 500 to hit 4,400 -- roughly 15 percent higher than it is today -- by the end of next year, a recovery that is set up by solid economic underpinnings that he says will come to the fore once inflation is under better control. Also on the show, Anu Ganti of S&P Global discusses how the Dow Jones Industrial Average during October posted its best month in nearly 47 years, Jerome Clark of T. Rowe Price -- a pioneer of target-date investing -- discusses how and why target-date investors have performed by staying the course in market times tempting them into making portfolio changes, and Lin Ho of Zelros covers the site's recent survey on how consumers feel they are being gouged for insurance coverage and how to make sure you're getting the most for your insurance dolar.

Greg Valliere, chief U.S. policy strategist for AGF Investments, says that while there is no sugar-coating the problems of the economy -- inflation, rising interest rates, a rough housing market and more -- the likely recession that lies ahead will be shallow, and will have a reasonable recovery once the Federal Reserve proves that the bitter medicine it is providing to quash inflation won't go overboard and kill the patient. Also on the show, Mark Hulbert discusses his recent column on MarketWatch where he added his own flair to some new academic research showing that the classic "4 percent rule" on retirement withdrawals is leading savers astray and that the proper spending amount to ensure that someone not outlive their money may be less than half of what most people are planning for. Plus Chuck talks about his annual cash-or-candy, trade-or-treat Halloween event and the choices his neighborhood kids went for when they came to his home Tuesday night.

Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial, says that the stock market has been signaling a coming recession -- albeit not likely to be "a deep scary one" -- but the key will be the speed of recovery, and that may hinge on how and when the Federal Reserve eases up on or reverses interest-rate hikes. Crosby notes that one thing that will help the recovery is that the dollar should weaken once the Fed makes it clear that the cycle of rate hikes is ending; she pointed to multi-national companies like Apple and Microsoft as examples of firms who saw global revenue growth hindered by the strength of the dollar. Also on the show: Kyle Guske of New Constructs puts a four-star mutual fund into "The Danger Zone," noting that it's filled with dangerous stocks and that past performance isn't likely to dictate future success; Greg Jenkins, head of institutional defined contribution for Invesco, examines the firm's recent survey showing that employees feel alone -- and unsupported by their employers -- in trying to determine the best investment strategy for retirement, and author and investment adviser Kristen Ragusin discusses her new book, "The End of Scarcity: The Dawn of the New Abundant World."

Karl Mills, president of Jurika Mills & Kiefer, says that negative investor sentiment is a precondition of a rebound, but he's looking for more signals that the economy and stock market is bottoming out. For example, Mills says that earnings haven't declined much yet, but he expects them to because of the squeeze that current conditions are putting on profits. The result is that Mills is taking a cautious, "shelter from the storm" approach, noting that there is still a lot of downside risk even though the market can see and already price in the coming recession he sees as arriving as the calendar turns. In The NAVigator segment, Mark Milner of Parametric Portfolio Associates, says that a lot of closed-end fund asset classes have now reached double-digit discount territory, "which historically has been a good opportunity to buy closed-end funds," although he worries about a coming boom in year-end tax-loss selling -- larger than in years past as a result of the market's 2023 downturn -- could impact closed-end assets as the New Year approaches. Plus, in the Market Call, Eric Marshall, president and portfolio manager at Hodges Capital Management, discusses bottoms-up investing in blue-chip stocks.

Matt Freund, co-chief investment officer at Calamos Investments, says that the market has taken the pain of higher rates but is watching that work its way through the economy and corporate earnings while facing wildcards like Covid-19, war in Ukraine and more that could extend current troubles. Still, despite an "epically bad" start to the year for the bond market -- coupled with hard times in equities -- Freund says that it is "not a foregone conclusion" that what lies ahead is a crash, and he expects the downturn to pass from here with a more limited amount of financial pain. Also on the show, Tom Lydon, vice-chairman at VettaFi, focuses on free cash-flow and quality domestic companies with his pick for "ETF of the Week," and Michael Campagna, senior investment analyst at Moerus Capital Management returns to the Market Call to discuss deep-value investing and just how messy he is willing to get in a market where the global valuation picture has been changing rapidly.

Christopher Davis, chairman and portfolio manager at Davis Advisors and the Davis Funds, says that "the bubble has been pricked" on the "crazy, hyper-speculative" growth companies, but that has put some names into the stock market's sweet spot, especially for investors with long time horizons and a value-investing bent. A year ago on the show , Davis said that a hybrid value style that encompassed "undervalued growth companies and value stocks that can grow" would be well positioned for whatever the market could dish out, and he now says the strategy has proven its worth; while the markets have bloodied all investors, Davis believes it has positioned investors to be long-term winners by staying the course. Also on the show, Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at BankRate.com discusses the site's latest survey showing that inflation concerns are making investors even more nervous that their retirement savings are falling behind, and Chuck talks about his annual Halloween "cash or candy" giveaway and how he will be working it on the trick-or-treaters this year, expecting the kids to be feeling the pinch of inflation this year too.

Tom Siomades, chief investment officer at AE Wealth Management and Advisors Excel, says that he believes the economy has been in recession for much of this year, and that he sees that ending as soon as the Federal Reserve gets inflation under control, which he expects to happen by early next year. He notes that the pundits calling for recession next year are late to the game; meanwhile, that time frame makes it easier for investors to stay the course with the investment portfolios built during the bull market. Also on the show, Matt Brannon of Clever Real Estate discusses the site's new survey showing that inflation is forcing roughly 40 percent of Americans to change buying habits on everyday goods, but which also highlights ways in which consumers misunderstand how inflation works and how bad the current situation is relative to the past. And in the Market Call, portfolio manager Adam Coons of Winthrop Capital Management discusses exchange-traded funds and the difficulty of finding issues that can be productive "satellites" to a core portfolio now.

Scott Knapp, chief market strategist at CUNA Mutual Group, says that central bankers are engineering a recession in order to kill inflation, and that investors are asking the wrong questions when they wonder how deep and how long a recession will be instead of wondering whether the mild recession most people expect will be enough to get the job done and fix the problem. Knapp believes that inflation is stubborn enough -- and that core inflation is accelerating -- to force a "more meaningful recession" that creates a longer downturn. Despite that forecast, Knapp says he is sticking with current asset allocations to ride things out, noting that a lot of the recession is already priced into the market. Also on the show, Kyle Guske of New Constructs revisits Tesla in "The Danegr Zone," discussing whether Elon Musk's distractions are adding pressure to a tenuous market position, Jenn Tracy discusses an IPX1031 survey in which half of Americans say that their dream home is "unattainable" in today's rising-rate, high-cost real estate market and, in the Market Call, David Barse, chief executive officer at XOUT Capital discusses the importance of eliminating worrisome stocks from a portfolio.

Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, says he thinks there is at least a 50 percent chance of a recession, but says that the whole idea that the Federal Reserve can "engineer a soft landing is a fairy tale," noting that a perfect ending to today's economic troubles isn't impossible, but "if it happens, it's just going to happen because it happened," not because the Fed actions caused it. Frick notes "a mild recession could be a tonic to a lot of what ails the economy right now." Also on the show, Gretchen Lam, senior portfolio manager at Octagon Credit Investors talks about how rising interest rates are helping the credit market now -- minimizing losses compared to most fixed-income investments -- and how loans have performed during periods of rate hikes in the past; Anna Mabry of Calvert Impact Capital discusses "community investment notes," direct investments that individuals can buy for as little as $50 that function as a fixed-income alternative while also trying to make a positive impact on communities, and Chuck answer's a listener's question about allowances, when to start them and how to structure them.

Michael Sincere, author of the Michael Sincere's Long-Term Trader column on MarketWatch.com, says that there are nine stages to a bear market and that the recent rallies are proving that this downturn isn't quite halfway through those steps, making the road to recovery long. He expects the bear market to last for at least another 12 months, and while he sees some potential rallies in there -- and even sees potential for a significant spike higher -- he suggests investors should be wary about taking the bait and should maintain a slug of cash (money market funds and short-duration Treasury funds) in their asset allocation until the technicals support that the recovery is on. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of Vetta Fi puts a happy face on a brand new fund in the "ETF of the Week," Jaime Dunaway-Seale of Clever Real Estate discusses a recent survey showing that a surprising number of Americans would be willing to buy a haunted house in order to get a home in these competitive, higher-cost times for the real estate market, and Dan Keady -- the chief financial planning strategist at TIAA -- discusses the impact of the recent, large cost-of-living adjustment for Social Security and how that extra income will help seniors and soon-to-be retirees fend off the sequence-of-return risk that is the big concern for seniors right now.

Craig Callahan, founder and chief executive officer at the ICON Funds -- who correctly called the bottom of the pandemic-driven bear market in March 2020 -- says that there are signs that the stock market has been through the ringer, but it's not yet showing enough signs that it has reached a bottom. Callahan says the market is roughly at fair value, not nearly beaten up enough to create the kind of widespread bargains normally found at a market bottom. the way it typically would be in As a result, he is holding maximum cash, waiting for inflation to start to ease, which should key the market reaction that puts him back in a buying mood. Also on the show, Rich Compson, head of managed accounts at Fidelity Investments talks about "direct indexing" or personalized indexing, and how it is now available to average investors with much smaller account balances; and in the Market Call, Scott Davies, founder and chief investment officer at CDAM, talks about international value investing now.

Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist for the Carson Group, says that while investors are suffering with the struggling market, he does not see a deep, protracted recession, and he says that investors who have priced in a much bigger downturn have created a buying opportunity that people may struggle to take advantage of because of the emotions of the downturn; he cites a number of data points that have him overweight to equities relative to fixed income now, which is a contrary position to many money managers now. Also on the show, Bob Pisani, senior markets correspondent for CNBC discusses his new book out today, "Shut Up and Keep Talking: Lessons on Life and Investing from the Floor of the New York Stock Exchange," and Nicholas Bohnsack, chief executive officer at Strategas Asset Management discusses "macro thematic opportunities" and the stocks that represent those opportunities now.

David Goerz, chief executive officer at Strategic Frontier Management, says that some well-known blue-chip companies are trading at single-digit price-earnings ratios lower than in the last two decades, creating opportunities for investors, but we are in an environment where investors could sell stocks and buy bonds expecting a better return, and the only asset class that he thinks can generate a positive return is cash. Goerz defends holding more cash right now despite an inflation rate that ultimately gives cash investments a negative real return, noting that losing a little ground to inflation is still a better outcome than losing a lot of ground in stocks and bonds. Also on the show, Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree, discusses a survey showing that nearly everyone across the country is planning to celebrate Halloween and plans to spend more money doing it, Kyle Guske of New Constructs puts a stock in The Danger Zone that he says was not rescued by a white knight recently but was instead pushed to the brink, and Manny Weintraub of Spears Abacus talks about finding compounders and other "super great stocks that are not going to kill you."

Warren Pierson, co-chief investment officer at the Baird Funds, says that after a long period where bond payouts were so low that investors had no choice and no alternative but to invest in stocks, things have now moved to where investors should be looking at bond yields because that's where they can find good values now. Pierson says that odds of a recession have risen, and while he does not expect a particularly long or difficult economic downturn, he believes investors should focus on investment-grade, quality bonds to ride it out. Also on the show, Duncan Farley, portfolio manager for the BlueBay Destra International Event-Driven Credit Fund, talks about alternative fixed-income opportunities, Zach Gildehaus of Edward Jones discusses charitable giving and making donations go farther and do more, and Nancy Prial, co-chief executive officer at Essex Investment Management, makes her debut in the Market Call talking about small-cap stocks.

Nick Sargen, senior economic advisor at Fort Washington Investment Advisors, says that investors didn't expect the Federal Reserve to let troubling times linger, but now the central bank can't make a change on a dime, so investors should now be waiting for the Fed to pivot on its strategy, a change he does not think will happen soon. Sargen expects a recession that is "not that long and not that deep," though he acknowledges there is enough uncertainty to make it last longer before those weak spots can be shored up. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of VettaFi looks to an international fund that hedges currency risk -- a hot topic in today's markets -- for his ETF of the Week, Maria Feller of SurePayroll talks about a survey showing that nearly 40 percent of Americans find that subscription services -- managing them and getting the most out of their money -- is adding to their financial stress, and in the Market Call, Justin Carbonneau, vice president at Validea.com discusses the ways in which legendary investors are or would be picking stocks in today's downbeat market.

Anwiti Bahuguna, head of multi-asset strategy at Columbia Threadneedle Investments -- senior portfolio manager of the Columbia Thermostat Fund -- says that the sell-off in stocks has not been the result of bad earnings reports, but rather has been driven by multiple compression, and until investors are willing to pay more for earnings, the stock and bond markets will be muted at best. Investors won't likely come around until the Federal Reserve signals its intentions on whether it will continue or halt its program of interest rates hikes; until that is clear, Bahuguna says there's too much uncertainty to be anything more than neutral about current conditions. Also on the show, Dave Sekera, chief U.S. market strategist at Morningstar, says in the Market Call segment that the market's woes have pushed a lot of stock valuations attractively below fair-value estimates, making stocks like Meta Platforms, Google, the communications industry and much more into attractive buying ranges, noting that while investors may have to be patient to wait for the payoff, he expects patience to be rewarded based on the discounts he says that the market has been applying to many company. Plus, Ed Carson, news editor at Investor's Business Daily discusses the latest IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index and explains why he thinks the measure is showing that investors have reached a point where there is hardly any optimism at all.

Dan Wiener, co-editor of The Independent Vanguard Adviser -- his new effort at tracking the world's largest fund company after his long-running newsletter was shuttered by its publisher -- discusses the value and success of touts, tipsters, newsletters and online services as he shares his plans for how he will continue to independently cover and follow Vanguard. Chuck also goes "Off the News" with Brett Arends, retirement columnist for MarketWatch, discussing his recent piece on how much retirement an individual can purchase for $100,000 and the value of annuities as a tool for retirement planning and living, especially in times when savers are more nervous than ever about conditions that could imperil their future comfort levels. Plus, author Bruce Carruthers discusses "The Economy of Promises: Trust, Power and Credit in America" and the evolution of the lending and credit industries and how the dynamics have shifted from personal judgments of who to trust to quantitative, algorithmic impersonal assessments of who is a good risk.

Kevin Mahn, president and chief investment officer at Hennion & Walsh, says investors should be deciding their current course based mostly on their reactions to current conditions. He believes that the worst is behind us in terms of the pullback in stocks, record-setting inflation and the hawkishness of the Federal Reserve, which has him expecting better days ahead and positioning to take advantage of them, but he notes that investors who disagree and who are still uncomfortable and losing sleep at night should own up to their risk tolerance and be building in more downside protection to their portfolio now. One group that does not necessarily agree with Mahn's optimism is the National Association for Business Economics, which today released its October 2022 Economic Outlook Survey; Ken Simonson starts today's interviews talking about just how pessimistic the economists are and how bad they foresee conditions getting in the recession that most of them foresee for the end of the year and the start of 2023. Also on the show, David Trainer of New Constructs puts Twitter and Netflix in The Danger Zone, noting that the two big name companies are showing street estimates that he considers out-of-whack with reality, making them likely to suffer an earnings miss when quarterly numbers come out soon and, in the Market Call, Christopher Zook of CAZ Investments discusses thematic investing and finding growth at a reasonable price now.

Meb Faber, chief investment officer at Cambria Investments, says that with traditional safe havens not working/protecting against the current downturn, many investors are reaching the point where they can't take it any more, becoming more "emotional and crazy," and that it will get exponentially worse with every additional 10 percent decline -- which he believes might happen before the market can turn around. That kind of panicky behavior, Faber says, is that it keeps them from investing in the solid long-term values that he sees currently around the world. That said, investors might want to head for the cliff after hearing Avi Gilburt, founder of ElliottWave Trader, talking technicals on this show, as he expects the market to have a pop back to record high levels before it embarks on a bear market cycle that he expects to last at least seven years, but which he says could be the predominant trend for two decades. Gilburt says that if the market can't squeeze one more rally out of the long-running bullish cycle, it's a sign that the next wave has begun and that the market could get very ugly -- roughly cut in half from here -- during the downturn he foresees lasting roughly for the remainder of this decade. Also on the show, Robert Bush, director of closed-end products at Calamos Investments, discusses how convertible securities -- built to let investors have their cake and eat it too -- have been underperforming in current conditions, and, in the Market Call, John Barr of the Needham Growth and Needham Aggressive Growth funds discusses the benefits of buying "compounders" even in markets where growth is hard to come by.

Chris Brightman, chief executive officer at Research Affiliates, explains how he believes the British financial system was threatened during a recent pension crisis that forced central bankers there to step in to overcome a liquidity crisis. Brightman says he expects to see similar issues popping up in markets around the globe, noting that "it's really hard to engineer the sort-of global tightening cycle that we're in and not break anything in the financial system." Those troubles, coupled with the strength of the dollar, create buying opportunities for domestic investors, Brightman says, noting that long-term investors "are likely to do much better investing in the U.K. stock market than the U.S. stock market." Also on the show, Tom Lydon of VettaFi.com says that current market conditions call for buying stocks in companies with competitive advantages that will help them weather the storm, which is why he made VanEck Vectors Morningstar Wide Moat his pick as "ETF of the Week," and Mark Yusko, chief investment officer at Morgan Creek Capital Management, says that the market is getting to a point where there are a lot of potential buys; he talks in the Market Call about seeking out the best management talent and finding the right funds and ETFs to deliver above-average performance.

Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco, says she anticipates stock market and economic problems late this year -- "especially if the Fed doesn't take it's foot off the accelerator" -- but she says the current environment will settle down so that investors can get their bearings and stay focused on the long-term, noting that there are reasons to be optimistic about the market for 2024 and beyond. Hooper says that the Federal Reserve will be the biggest determinant of how and when the market recovers, but said she feels that investors who get too short-sighted about what is happening now are likely to be more damaged by the actions of central bankers than those who ride it out. Also on the show, Matt Brannon, data analyst with Clever Real Estate, discusses their recent study of Americans' credit-card habits, which show that most of the personal finance gains reported and experienced around the pandemic have faded as Americans returned not only to their offices but to their bad pre-pandemic financial habits, and in the Market Call, Derek Izuel, chief investment officer at Shelton Capital Management discusses international investments in times when foreign markets are facing so many troubling forces beyond rising inflation.

JJ Kinahan, chief executive officer, IG North America -- parent company of tastyworks -- says that the stock market is showing signs that current high levels of volatility are likely to stick around into early next year; considering this abnormal market activity, Kinahan says there is nothing wrong with average investors regrouping and taking a breather while waiting for more clear direction from the market. Kinahan notes that he has seen over the last five months more investors moving from individual stocks towards exchange-traded funds, because they believe in the market but worry about being burned by individual stocks blowing up. Also on the show, Jim Royal of Bankrate.com discusses a new survey showing that the current "crypto winter" has a lot of investors reconsidering their comfort level with cryptocurrencies, noting that he thinks the negative feelings go beyond the 60 percent decline that the biggest cryptos have experienced this year, and Martin Tarlie, portfolio manager and research analyst at GMO discusses the firm's research looking at how to properly deal with sequence-of-return risk, the condition many older investors are facing now as they look at retiring into a stock market that is struggling.

Jeff Weniger, head of equity strategy at WisdomTree Asset Management, says that the strong dollar is dramatically changing business conditions for U.S. companies, even as they deal with recessionary conditions. The dollar has gotten so strong, Weniger says, that it's an expensive country for companies and consumers, all of whom will have to deal with the headwinds created by the dollar. Weniger says that he expects the next six months to be characterized by significant volatility, which will give technology stocks a tough ride, which has him turning to utilities and consumer staples while waiting to see how the Federal Reserve's plans to deal with inflation play out. Also on the show, Hugh Tallents, senior partner at cg42.com discusses his recent research into "buy now, pay later" plans and says that consumer behaviors are inflation a debt bubble that could lead to real trouble for the industry as interest rates rise and the economy continues to falter in 2023; Kyle Guske, investment analyst at New Constructs, adds Ring Central to a recent list of "zombie stocks" -- companies with no earnings that are burning through cash and are headed for trouble trying to raise more under current conditions -- noting that it has the potential to be bankrupt in as little as two months, and Mark Lehmann, chief executive officer at JMP Securities discusses stocks in the Market Call.

Jim Welsh of Smart Portfolios -- author of the "Macro Tides" newsletter -- says the Federal Reserve will not be able to raise interest rates, calm the economy and bring rates right back down, noting that current conditions are reminiscent of a 15-year period from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s when the market was largely flat as the central bank struggled to keep inflation in check. If the market repeats that kind of long-term doldrums, Welsh says that buy-and-hold investors will be disappointed in the long run. That's doubly scary when considering the comments of Chris Maxey, chief market strategist at Wealthspire, who says in The Big Interview that investors need to take a longer-term approach to deal with current volatility and Fed policy-making and the recession he sees ahead for 2023. In The NAVigator segment, John Cole Scott of Closed-End Fund Advisors discusses and compares floating-rate and senior loan funds to preferred-securities funds, noting that floating-rate funds are a tool for combating high and rising interest rates, while preferred equities are a good weapon for battling a recession, which may lead investors to "split the ticket" in order to deal with today's complex markets. In the Market Call, Aleksandr Spencer, chief investment officer at Bogart Wealth, discusses tactical investing and the right funds and ETFs for the job now.

Long-time investment writer John Waggoner, the financial editor for AARP.org, says that investors aren't seeing the proverbial "blood running in the streets" despite the stock market's recent downturn, so it's not a simple "buy the dips, ride it out" market. Instead, it's a balance of holding more cash and deploying it selectively, while also considering ways to reduce the long-term impact that current conditions can have on a retirement portfolio. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of VettaFi makes a short-duration bond fund -- an ideal and popular parking place for cash given current market conditions -- his ETF of the Week, Ted Rossman of Bankrate.com discusses a survey showing that it's already beginning to look a lot like Christmas as holiday shoppers get busy early in an attempt to stave off inflation this year, and, in the Market Call, Chris Armbruster, portfolio manager and senior research analyst at Kayne Anderson Rudnick talks about building concentrated portfolios and investing in mid-cap stocks

Jason Thomas, chief executive officer at Portfolio Design Labs, says that the toughest challenge facing investors right now is that safe assets -- which had done their job reasonably well during downdrafts over the last 30 years -- aren't delivering now, forcing investors to change their plans to better ride through inflationary and recessionary times. Thomas says that with the dividend portion of high-dividend stocks being undervalued, a mix of those steady payers plus short-duration bonds will help investors get through the next few years to the next phase of both the market and their investment life cycle. Also on the show, Chuck talks about The Vanguard Group's announcement this week that it was shutting down a U.S. ETF for the first time ever, and what that action says about the company and the industry -- and what it means for you -- and Andrew Graham, founder and portfolio manager at Jackson Square Capital talks in the Market Call about pursuing a growth investment strategy during a time when growth is hard to come by.

Willie Delwiche, investment strategist at All Star Charts, says that he does not believe investors will be rewarded for "being early to buy the dip," warning that changing market conditions make it that waiting in cash to see more discernible trends will avoid losses and sidestep volatility while still allowing for upside potential once it becomes clear that the tide is turning. "The more cash you have on the sidelines" Delwiche says, "the better you're feeling about your position." Today's show also features the return of Wade Pfau, professor of retirement income at The American College of Financial Services, who is back to answer listener questions about the use of reverse mortgages, especially given current interest rate and market conditions, plus Maria Szatkowski of MyVision.org discusses the site's recent survey on medical procrastination caused by inflation plus the acceptance of telehealth and whether it helps to break the logjam, and we revisit a recent wide-ranging conversation with Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning at Morningstar Inc., in which she coins the term "index-fund abuse" and discusses the difference between making a portfolio and investment strategy recession-proof versus inflation-proof.

James St. Aubin, chief investment officer for the Sierra Mutual Funds, says that investors can win right now by not losing, and while holding cash won't keep pace with high inflation, he says being on the sidelines waiting for the market "to show some productive trends" is a sound strategy for current conditions. St. Aubin says that while the Federal Reserve's clear mission is to tame inflation even if it means triggering a recession, the stock market will continue to respond badly until it has a more clear direction. Also on the show, Mike Dowdall, chief investment officer at Alternative Fund Advisors, discusses the private credit market as an alternative to ordinary stocks and bonds in this market, David Botset of Schwab Asset Management discusses the firm's 11th annual study of ETF investors and their changing habits, and David Trainer of New Constructs puts a popular pandemic stock in "The Danger Zone," marking it as his latest "zombie stock," walking dead as it burns through cash with no sign of profits in sight.

Abhay Deshpande, founder and chief investment officer at Centerstone Investors, says that international stocks are already looking like good values but are likely to be priced even better with another drop from here, but it is creating "a dream scenario for anyone who has a three- to five-year time horizon," so while he sees the proverbial blood running in the streets globally, he thinks investors are "in that zone" where they should allocate more internationally to get the best prices now. Investors generally are feeling like the blood is running in the streets, which is why investor optimism is at its lowest levels since March 2009; Charles Rotblut of the American Association of Individual Investors gives the high level of pessimism some context, and Toni Turner of Trendstar reflects on the market's technicals and ponders what might happen if June's lows don't hold up from here. Plus, Mark Scalzo of the newly listed Destra Multi-Alternative Fund discusses alternative investing and his fund's massive discount and, in the Market Call, Martin Leclerc of Barrack Yard Advisors talks about stocks and holding fast to investment beliefs during volatile times.

Wade Pfau, professor of retirement income at The American College of Financial Services and the nation's preeminent expert on reverse mortgages, says that retirees are facing a delicate balancing act right now, worrying about sequence-of-return risk -- which is heightened during times of bear markets and high volatility -- but also how to fund retirement. Reverse mortgages can be a key tool in times like this, but Pfau says they become less effective as interest rates rise; coupled with wildly fluctuating housing values, it makes it crucial that retirement savers understand the math they are facing. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of VettaFi looks to oil and gas exploration for his "ETF of the Week," Mark Hamrick, senior economic analyst at Bankrate.com, weighs in on the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike on Wednesday and what its statements about the future portend for the market, and Ken Willner of TextNow.com discusses their recent survey on how consumers are dealing with inflation and what they are sacrificing -- or are willing to give up -- to stay on budget now.

Crit Thomas, global market strategist at Touchstone Investments, acknowledges that he is giving potentially controversial advice in suggesting that with interest rates still rising investors might look to buy longer-duration bonds, but he thinks that rates will peak soon and that investors who stay completely focused on short-term bonds will find themselves with significant re-investment risk -- the chance that they will be looking at lesser returns when bonds mature -- in a year or two. While he is not going way up the maturity scale, Thomas is looking to position both fixed-income and equity portfolios for a recovering and changed market and economy in the next two years. Also on the show, Chuck discusses the relative success -- or lack thereof -- that active managers have had in beating their passive benchmarks this year with Tim Edwards, managing director of index investment strategy, S&P Dow Jones Indices, discusses the rising percentage of Americans with long-term credit-card debt -- at just the wrong time to have it -- with Ted Rossman of CreditCards.com, and these strange times we are living through call for some "Weird Financial News" with stories about Elon Musk, donkey penises and more.

Simeon Hyman, global investment strategist at ProShares, says that the dividend aristocrats have grown their payouts beyond even the current levels of inflation, which makes them — along with companies that benefit from rising rate environments- the sweet spot for tilting a portfolio now. In The Big Interview, he also discusses how to tilt a fixed income portfolio for today's challenging conditions. Also on the show, Ken Tumin, founder and editor at DepositAccounts.com, talks about what rising interest rates have already done to consumers and savers and says that the next, upcoming rate hike is not going to reward savers looking for a safe place to keep pace with inflation. And in the Market Call, Brad Lamensdorf of the The Lamensdorf Market Timing Report and chief executive officer at Active Alts, discusses the need to be selective about shorting stocks, because the ebbing tide right now is not taking all companies out with it.

Thomas Samuelson, chief investment officer at Vineyard Global Advisors in Denver says that last week's inflation news and other current conditions have increased the potential for recession, and he notes that the historical decline for a bear market with a recession is 35 percent, which will have the market testing June lows and likely going deeper, potentially dropping the Standard & Poor's 500 to the 3,000 to 3,200 range. In The Danger Zone, David Trainer of New Constructs singles out Affirm Holdings, a buy now, pay later shop that has seen its stock price fall from roughly $175 to under $25 in the last year as a zombie stock with real potential to go to zero. And we revisit a recent conversation with billionaire David Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group, one of the world's most successful investors and philanthropists.

Brent Schutte, chief investment officer at Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co., says that history shows that when inflation has peaked, the stock market has bottomed, and he believes inflation peaked in June, which along with other conditions means that the bottom is in. Still, he notes that the market will be "discomfortable" as the economy moves back and forth from inflation to recession. He does believe that a mild recession is still coming, but that things will look and feel a lot better when these conditions pass more completely. His take on the market bottoming draws some agreement from Leo Leydon, president of Financial Focus Advisory Services, who examines the market's technicals and says that there is the potential for the market to set a bottom and start a climb from here, though he believes the market will likely be sideways and volatile through the end of the year. Also on the show, Kyle Brown, president and chief investment officer at Trinity Capital, explains how double-digit yields are possible -- and relatively safe and stable -- in a rising-rate environment, and talks about how the economic slowdown is impacting the high-growth, venture-backed, early-stage companies that his business-development company finances, and Chuck talks about final expense insurance and why he keeps being pitched this product by cold callers.

Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Cresset Capital Management, says that he believes current inflation-rate statistics are over-stating the problem, caused in part by backward-looking data mixed with the human nature of forward-looking investors. He expects a step-back in inflation measures, though it may be 2023 before that happens. Meanwhile, Ablin says that the market's reaction to Tuesday's Consumer Price Index news was overdone, but he expects the market to trend lower and while he's still investing in equities, he's keeping some money on the sidelines waiting for conditions to improve. And speaking of the sidelines, Ablin talks about how some of that money was moved into gold, which did not function as expected as a hedge against inflation, but which he expects to improve in that role heading into 2023. Also on the show, Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management discusses the "Ethereum merge," and how it represents a significant change and upgrade in certain key cryptocurrency technologies, and what other cryptos will have to do in order to keep pace. Tom Lydon, vice chairman of VettaFi, makes a utilities fund his ETF of the Week and Chuck answers a listener's questions about refinancing and buying homes during a rapidly changing interest rate and housing market.

Jose Torres, senior economist at Interactive Brokers, says economic risks right now are "skewed to the upside," noting that gas prices could reverse course in the fall; with the market showing Tuesday that it can't handle service prices rising even as oil prices fall, Torres says that the picture could get ugly if gas prices rise and other prices keep going up too, increasing the need for the Federal Reserve to act and the likelihood of a recession next year. Also on the show, author Gary Weiss discusses his latest book, "Retail Gangster: The Inside Real-Life Story of Crazy Eddie," Greg McBride, Bankrate.com's chief financial analyst, covers bank fees -- one of the few areas where prices are mostly coming down right now -- and Kevin Rendino, portfolio manager/chief executive officer for 180 Degree Capital, discusses "value turnaround investing" in the Market Call.

Carly Garner, senior commodity strategist at DeCarley Trading says that "despite all the scary fundamental stories and headlines we read," the cache of money that investors have now will be put to work in stocks to bonds, creating enough momentum to overcome the emotion and volatility she expects for the market in the next year. She also believes that gold and silver -- which have heretofore been ineffectual hedges for inflation -- could be sleeper sectors poised to wake up, especially if the dollar is -- as she expects -- at or near its high for this cycle. The Book Interview features the return of David Rubenstein to the show; the co-founder of The Carlyle Group has a new book out today. "How to Invest: Masters in the Craft" covers expertise from a wide range of investment gurus, and Rubenstein discusses who he wishes he could have added to the list, why he included cryptocurrency in the book despite having mixed emotions on it, and why he didn't just write a book filled with his own investment insights, and more. And in The Big Interview, Matt Peron, director of research at Janus Henderson Investors, discusses how dividend payouts reached a high as the stock market was reaching its first-half lows and what that means for the market and for income-producing stocks moving forward.