Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Money Life wraps up its interviews fro FinCon 2022 in Orlando with eight different talks today, finishing with Joe Saul-Sehy of the Stacking Benjamins podcast, who notes that in his years attending the meeting of bloggers, podcasters and content creators he has seen a change in the Financial Independence, Retire Early crowd, where many people enjoy the concepts and are practicing elements of the discipline without going to extremes. Also sitting down with Chuck at FinCon for today's show: options trader Jason Brown of The Brown Report, Anthony Weaver of the About That Wallet podcast, financial educator Rachel Murphy on raising money-confident children, Ashley Patrick of Budgets Made Easy on how inflation has impacted the budget-making process, financial planner Walter Russell, James Gaudino of the10minutetrader.com, and FIRE practitioners Allison Tom and Dylin Redling of Retireby45.com.

Cheryl Pate, senior portfolio manager for the Angel Oak Financial Strategies Income Term Trust, says that community banks stand out as a part of the financial sector that is poised to benefit into 2023, as banks will likely see the bulk of continuing rate hikes fall directly to the bottom line. Still, she favors bonds to stocks in the sector. When that interview for The NAVigator is finished, the action moves to FinCon22 in Orlando, where Chuck interviews Robert Farrington of The College Investor, financial educator Stacy Mastrolia -- "Prof Stacy" -- Lee Huffman of We Travel There, Asma Alsalmeh of the Latte Money podcast, and financial coach Kim Hunter-Borst.

Chuck heads to Orlando for FinCon '22, the annual conference of content creators, financial coaches, educators and more, and he samples some of the expertise speaking with Doug Nordman of MilitaryFinancialIntelligence.com about whether veterans have been treated any differently by the market in this downturn, Monica Scudieri of GrabYourSlice.com, Jason Parker of RetirementBudgetCalculator.com, and Emily Guy Birken, who recently started YourOneGoodThing.com. Plus, Tom Lydon goes nuclear with his "ETF of the Week."

Legendary investor and noted philanthropist David Rubenstein of The Carlyle Group says that today's inflation feels like the 1970s, a time that taught investors that it is hard to get inflation out of the system. That has left the economy "treading water," trying to get comfortable with how the situation will play out before it can move forward; in the interim he expects low econnimc growth stopping short of recession, inflation that heads down but not all the way to the Fed's 2 percent, target, with war in Ukraine being a significant economic wildcard. In a wide-ranging interview, Rubenstein talks about whether politics now creates economic headwinds and how the money in politics is furthering the divides, about modern philanthropy and the satisfaction of giving, about happily speeding up in retirement, and more. Gwen Merz, the blogger behind FieryMillennials.com talks about her changing financial journey, one which saw her start as a hardcore member of the Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) crowd, but which now has her more relaxed about her finances and, as a result, happier and more content with her life. Also, Chuck answers a question from the audience about the Gerber Grow-Up Plan, which he made a "Stupid Investment of the Week" when he started that column roughly 20 years ago, which he felt was still putrid when he stopped writing the column a decade later, and which he thinks remains horrid now, but which will keep attracting suckers -- and we don't mean pacifiers -- for as long as families have babies.

Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning for Morningstar Inc., says that recession-proofing your portfolio and making it inflation-resistant requires different actions, but the biggest similarity to both processes is that investors need a plan that they can ride out until conditions improve. She notes that flip-flopping on strategy -- more than following flawed strategies -- leads investors astray. Also on the show, Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at BankRate.com, talks about how the mortgage market and banking industry are responding to rising interest rates, noting that mortgage refinancing applications have hit their lowest level in more than two decades, and that savings yields have improved in the financial sector's response to the rising-rate, high-inflation environment. And in the Market Call, Francisco Bido, senior portfolio manager at F/m Acceleration, talks about his firm's quant-active strategy and how he mixes the art and science to deal with a market that has little or no momentum going for it.

Joe Quinlan, head of CIO market strategy for Merrill and Private Bank at Bank of America, expects heightened volatility with the market mostly flat until the point when the market anticipates that the Federal Reserve's tightening cycle is about to end, at which point "markets will swing back toward the green. ... The sooner Jay Powell gets it done, the better for the markets and the better for equities." Looking at the market's technical's, Matt Harris -- chief investment officer for The Hausberg Group -- agrees that volatility "is here to stay" until there is some signal that the market trend is changing. Harris says he will not be surprised if the market crashes through two support levels to retest the June lows, though he expects it will be a decline that occurs slowly and with a lot of volatility/movement in the interim. Also on the show, Josh Duitz of the Abrdn Global Infrastructure Income says that the macro drivers for infrastructure -- globalization, upgrades and repairs, urbanization and increased demand -- coupled with current inflationary pressures have created an environment that is solid for recession-resistant infrastructure stocks. Plus, in the Market Call, John Mowrey, chief investment officer at NFJ Investment Group, discusses global value investing.

Joe Terranova -- widely known on Wall Street as 'Joe T.' -- chief market strategist at Virtus Investment Partners, says that the stock market and economy are not going through the kind of short, sharp downturn-recovery pattern investors have grown used to this century, but that time will resolve the issues making it so that investors with the time to ride it out -- and favoring companies with strong fundamentals -- will be rewarded for their patience. For the second week in a row, Tom Lydon, vice chairman at VettaFi, picks a core growth-oriented fund as his ETF of the Week, noting that the times call for a focus on the core investment positions right now. And in the Market Call, James Abate, manager of the Centre American Select Equity and Centre Global Infrastructure Fund -- which sit atop their Morningstar peer groups for year-to-date performance -- says that "Flat is the new up," and discusses how he has stayed ahead of the market.

Alan Gayle, president at Via Nova Investment Management, says that while he is optimistic that Europe and other global markets will see a strong recovery in the future, until that happens -- likely sometime next year -- he prefers to be invested in the United States, despite the struggles of markets here. In a wide-ranging Big Interview, Gayle calls the current environment "exceptionally complicated," noting that recessionary forces are held at bay by a strong job market and flush consumers, and he expects those forces to make it so that a downturn or decline won't turn into "a full-blown recession." Also on the show, Ira Rothberg, portfolio manager of the Hennessy Focus Fund, discusses the benefits and challenges of concentrating portfolio decisions in volatile market conditions, Craig Lazzara of S&P Dow Jones Indices discusses Tuesday's release of the latest S&P CoreLogic Case-Shiller Indices and how it shows that home prices nationally remain way up from last year even as they have started to pull back from recent peaks, and Catherine Collinson discusses the latest research from the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies, showing how employers have changed their offerings coming out of the pandemic.

David Jilek, chief investment strategist at Gateway Investment Advisers, says that the market is likely to continue along a volatile path as it looks for resolution from today's headline risks, and he notes that investors need to mitigate risks and position themselves less to profit now than for the future point when the market comes out of the doldrums and starts its next real climb to a bull market. Jilek noted that the relationship between asset classes -- most notably stocks and bonds which moved alarmingly downward in lockstep at the beginning of the year -- may be changed for the foreseeable future, forcing investors to reconsider their allocations even while they are treading water waiting for better times ahead. In the Talking Technicals segment, Michael Kahn, senior market analyst at Lowry Research Corp., says investors have to "play everything light," not sitting on the sidelines but not running the full playbook, noting that he thinks investors will be happy a year from now but may have to go through a lot of pain in the interim. Plus, author Greg Steinmetz discusses his new book, "American Rascal: How Jay Gould Built Wall Street's Biggest Fortune," and compares his protagonist to some of today's modern day corporate giants.

Moe Ansari, chief investment officer at Compak Asset Management and the long-time host of "Market Wrap with Moe," joins Chuck for the most unusual Market Call interview in the history of Money Life, calling out the culture of stock picks and the way audiences use them. In The Danger Zone segment, Kyle Guske, investment analyst at New Constructs, talks about why pet-food retailer Chewy is a barking dog of a stock, burning through its cash to where bankruptcy could be on the horizon within two years. Plus, Matt Zajechowski discusses a recent survey showing that consumers want to travel but don't like what they are facing as they hit the road, and Chuck answers an audience member's question about "actively passive" investing.

Clyde McGregor, long-time manager of the Oakmark Equity and Income fund, says he is "suspicious" of the market's recent rally after valuations didn't get low enough during the bear market to sound the all-clear on trouble. That is one key issue to investing now, McGregor says, with the bigger concern being that current conditions are different than in the past, most notably with changes in the relationship between interest rates and inflation; while certain elements rhyme with various times in the past, McGregor says the current conditions make it hard to make sense of the market now. Talking technicals, Julius de Kempenaer, senior technical analyst for StockCharts.com, says he thinks the bear-market rally has ended and the market has started a new leg down. Also on the show, Kenneth Burdon, an attorney with Skadden Arps, talks about a recent Delaware law change that's designed to protect investors in closed-end funds and Gabriela Herculano, chief executive officer, iClima Earth talks stocks and ESG investing in the Market Call.

Eddy Vataru, chief investment officer for total return at Osterweis Capital Management, says that investors are thinking wishfully that the Federal Reserve can play with interest rates and inflation to engineer a soft landing for the economy, but he believes any scenario where the Fed is not hiking rates until inflation drops to their target of 2 percent is too rosy. He says the Fed will be as hawkish as possible, trying to set market expectations about rising rates while hoping to engineer a soft landing, but notes that such a smooth outcome is unlikely, and that inflation woes will not end quickly. Also on the show, Anu Ganti, senior director of index investment strategy for S&P Global, discusses the sectors that currently are adding to portfolio diversification -- and playing defense -- and those that are just adding to portfolio volatility, Tom Lydon of VettaFi makes a classic, core growth-oriented fund his ETF of the Week, and Boston Globe staff writer Rob Weisman discusses his recent trip to the Netherlands to see the way they provide long-term care for their growing elderly population and what America could learn from their actions.

Arjun Jayaraman, portfolio manager at Causeway Capital Management says that emerging markets investors are trying to decide if the next 10 years will be as flat and troubled as the last decade, and he says that despite prominent, key headline risks, China and emerging markets have plenty of promise now, and should turn out to be better over the next 10 years than they were over the last 10. Jayaraman says if forced to invest in just one emerging market country, his pick would be South Korea, but he thinks that China and others are well-positioned to make progress once the global inflation crisis eases. Daniel Strachman, managing partner at A&C Advisors and the author of "Julian Robertson: A Tiger in the Land of Bulls and Bears," discusses the legendary hedge fund manager and what made him one of the most influential and unique forces ever in money management; Robertson passed away Tuesday at age 90. Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at CreditCards.com; @tedrossman; @creditcardscom

David Kelly, chief global strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, says inflation has started to roll over, and once the Federal Reserve pivots away from tough talk about fighting inflation he expects the market to move higher. Kelly says that opportunity is coming in "months or quarters rather than years," meaning that opportunity is around the corner and making this a good time to put money to work. Kelly says he is overweight "the bottom 490" of the Standard & Poor's 500, value stocks and international investing, with an emphasis on Europe. Talking technical analysis, Tom McClellan of The McClellan Market Report, says he expects a weak market through the mid-term election and while he notes that 2023 is poised to be a better year -- as it is the third year in a presidential election cycle, historically a good one -- he's short the market now, expecting a "better bottom" in December once the market digests the election results. Also on the show, Greg Daco, chief economist at EY, discusses the latest Policy Survey released Monday by the National Association for Business Economics, noting that economists -- who normally struggle to agree on any opinion -- have reached an unusual consensus that the economy will or has entered a recession, but that the slowdown will be mild and short.

David Trainer, president of New Constructs, says that while Robinhood Markets is down about 80 percent from its 52-week high and that it has room to go a lot lower, having burned through $3.5 billion in cash in the last 12 months, with just more than that amount left in cash on the books. Trainer put the company back into The Danger Zone, saying "We're really not sure what is going to prop this zombie stock up much longer ... '' even as "it is priced as if it is going to go to the moon." Also on the show, Mark Fleming, chief economist at First American Financial Corp., discusses the state of the housing market, noting that homeowners with fixed-rate mortgages aren't feeling the pinch of inflation, while homebuyers are being squeezed hard by it and home-sellers are watching markets change rapidly. Fleming thinks mortgage rates have "mostly found their new normal," noting that current levels of between 5 and 6 percent are in line with historic norms even if they are dramatically higher than consumers have been used to for the last decade or more. Chuck answers a listener's question about what to do with some cash now, and portfolio manager Jeff Muhlenkamp of the Muhlenkamp Fund makes his debut on the show, talking stocks in the Market Call.

Jeff Bishop, chief executive officer at RagingBull.com, says he that the market has rallied to a point where he is looking to take money off the table on the upside and starting to get short anticipating that areas like technology that have rallied the most off the lows are due for a fall as the current bear market rally starts to falter. Bishop acknowledges that he might be early, but he'd rather be ahead of the rally ending than riding it down. Also on the show, Roxanna Islam, associate director of research at VettaFi, discusses the construction of indexes of closed-end funds and the benefits to using them over individual issues, Milind Mehere, chief executive officer at Yieldstreet, discusses the current state of the U.S. housing market, and Juan Pablo Villamarin, senior investment analyst at Intercontinental Wealth Advisors, talks stocks in the Market Call.

Brian Huckstep, chief investment officer at Advyzon Investment Management, says that he believes the economy has enough going for it that there will not be a recession, but he expects interest rates to keep rising which will be bad for the long-term bond market, leaving opportunities for outperformance in shorter-term corporate bonds and levered loans. In the Market Call interview, Huckstep says he also believes value investing is due for its time in the sun now, delivering higher expected returns than the growth style. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of VettaFi makes a big fund that invests in preferred securities his ETF of the Week, noting that it can diversify a fixed-income portfolio and goose returns now, and in The Big Interview, Christopher Mizer, founder of Vivaris Capital, discusses investing in alternatives and using assets like life settlements and medical receivables as part of structured products that try to protect against declines while still offering a decent upside in all conditions.

Brian Frank, manager of the Frank Value Fund -- who will stay in cash when he can't find stocks cheap enough to meet his metrics for good value -- says that the market's decline in early 2022 put a lot more stocks onto his radar as prospective buys, but he says the market remains expensive as a whole. In The Big Interview, Stan Majcher, portfolio manager at Hotchkis and Wiley Capital Management, says that the energy market -- the one sector of the market that was up during the first half of the year -- remains attractive after its recent run up and despite market pressures created by war in Ukraine and global supply-chain issues. He believes oil remains significantly underpriced, giving strong potential for the sector to keep rolling for the foreseeable future despite the likelihood of a global recession. Also on the show, Sarah Foster discusses a recent Bankrate.com survey showing that consumers who are influenced into purchases by social media have a high -- and increasing -- level of regrets over their spending decisions.

John Blank, chief economist and chief investment strategist for Zacks Investment Research, says that the limited options facing Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell leave the economy in a situation where inflation will be sticky and the market will be more stable but likely more sideways, at least until pricing pressure eases. "The soft landing isn't what's going to happen," Blank says. "The Fed's going to get comfortable with a higher level of prices and rice inflation and just stop because it can't do anything about this." Zach Jonson, chief investment officer at Stack Financial Management, says that the market's technicals are showing that recent gains are more likely a bear market rally rather than the start of a new bull market, largely because there hasn't been much breadth and support to the gains. Until the rally reflects greater participation -- with fewer companies making new lows -- Jonson says the current move up is likely a temporary one. And Tracie McMillion, head of global asset allocation and investment strategy for the Wells Fargo Investment Institute kicks things off talking about how the 60-40 portfolio is alive and well despite an awful start to the year that could hold up and make this one of the worst years ever for that classic balanced approach to investing.

Laura Geritz, founder and portfolio manager at Rondure Global Advisors, says that deglobalization of markets is making it more important than ever that investors pick great stocks at reasonable prices, focusing more on the company-by-company picture than looking at the macro outlook. Another part of that change in mindset is that investors might want to sell into the market's rally, which has been driving up prices of riskier assets, rather than looking at every downturn as a chance to try to buy the next rebound. In a wide-ranging interview, Geritz also makes a case for China's stock market -- which she calls "out-of-sync with the rest of the world" -- being poised for a big recovery while the rest of the globe struggles through inflation problems. Also on the show, David Trainer of New Constructs puts Door Dash in "The Danger Zone" and explains why he believes the stock has a lot further to fall, Barry Metzger of Charles Schwab discusses the firm's latest survey of active traders and how its clients are reacting to shifting market conditions but prolonged inflation, and Chris Mack of Harding Loevner Global Equity fund talks stocks in the Market Call.

Bryce Doty, senior portfolio manager at Sit Investment Associates, says that the Federal Reserve has been "clueless," making moves that have actually been inflationary, making it more costly for companies to do business and having companies pass those costs on to consumers. That has created an environment with an inverted yield curve and a coming recession. With that said, Doty says the worst is largely over for the bond market, but that the stock market will suffer next year when the current relief rally ends . Doty appears in two segments today, also doing The NAVigator segment, talking about how closed-end funds are an ideal tool for current market conditions and how average investors who understand closed-end funds about 80 percent should take the leap of faith to go the rest of the way. In the Market Call, Jeff Auxier of the Auxier Focus Fund talks about value investing.

Sebastien Page, head of global multi-asset/chief investment officer at T. Rowe Price, says that while inflation has peaked, it will remain sticky as it returns to more normal levels. The strategic, long-term takeaway is to remain invested, but Page says that the tactical moves investors should be making now involve playing "aggressive defense," underweighting stocks relative to bonds, underweighting Treasury bonds and overweighting cash and bank loans now. Internationally, he favors emerging markets and is light on Europe. Also on the show, Tom Lydon, vice chairman at VettaFi, looks at a new fund from VanEck focused on collateralized loan obligations as a means of diversifying bond portfolios, and Charlie Bobrinskoy, vice chairman at Ariel Investments talks value investing in the Market Call.

Josef Schuster, chief executive officer at IPOX Schuster -- which builds indexes of initial public offerings around the world -- says that the IPO market has suffered along with the rest of the stock market, but it is poised for a rebound because companies must size up the cost of delaying an offering during a market slowdown versus the heightened costs of borrowing money to fund continuing operations. He says the current IPO market reminds him of conditions from roughly 20 years ago after the bursting of the Internet bubble. Also on the show, Dan Griffith of Huntington Private Bank discusses the private equity markets and how they have performed -- and are likely to do moving forward -- relative to the stock and bond markets, Ed Carson, news editor at Investor's Business Daily, talks about the publication's latest survey on investor optimism, and Chuck answers a listener's question about breaking up a family estate.

Markus Schomer, chief economist for PineBridge Investments, says in "The Big Interview" that he believes the U.S. economy can avoid recession, not just through the remainder of this year but into 2023 -- when many experts say recession will become official -- as well. Schomer says that people misunderstand the type of economy we're in and the type of inflation we are living through; he believes the Covid economy is still playing out, and that the supply-demand equation will find balance again, and soon enough to keep things rolling without a major market meltdown. That said, Schomer's optimism stood in contrast to Adam Grimes of Talon Advisors, whose take on the market's technical indicators suggests that the ongoing market rebound is nothing more than a bear-market rally, set up to rise high and then reverse sharply, which he thinks will happen in line with the economy slowing down further later this year. Also on the show, Andrew Wellington, co-founder and chief investment officer at Lyrical Asset Management makes his maiden voyage in the Market Call talking stocks.

Joe Keefe, president of Impax Asset Management and the Pax World Funds, says that there are enough positives for the economy right now that he would bet against a hard landing and a protracted recession, although he acknowledges that wildcards like war in Ukraine, trade tensions with China, political issues and more to make him "barely optimistic" that a "soft-ish landing" lies ahead. Also on the show, David Trainer of New Constructs highlights Rivian Automotive as another "zombie stock," pushed to death's door by rising interest rates and higher borrowing costs that he expects can sink the company from here, and Eric Sterner, chief investment officer at Apollon Wealth Management, talks ETFs and stocks in the Market Call.

Ed Clissold, chief U.S. strategist at Ned Davis Research, says that the stock market's recent rebound looks and feels more like the start of a new bull market than it does the standard bear-market rally, though he is not saying that the rebound signals the start of something big. The economy still has a lot to work through, much of which will not come to roost until 2023, Clissold says, and the current strength may be more of a sign that any future decline won't last too long or go excessively deep. Clissold says the U.S. remains the best market in the world, even as expectations have been lowered given economic conditions. Also on the show, Chuck answers a question about hiring a fee-only adviser who charges by the hour, Alicia Munnell of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College discusses new bi-partisan legislation that she says fails to achieve its goals of offering real assistance to the nation's retirees, and John Cole Scott of Closed-End Fund Advisors and the Active Investment Company Alliance, discusses funds currently trading at premiums and compares them with similar funds priced at a discount, noting that the differences are about more than pricing.

Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network, says thatthe bond market tends to have the most accurate message for investors, noting that the bond market tends to be the dog while the stock market is the tail. Thus, the market is reacting to headlines, but the bond market tends to be more steady in its actions. MacMillan says the bond market currently is signalling a coming recession, with the inverted yield curve signalling it could happen in the next 12 to 18 months. Also on the show, Tom Lydon, vice chairman at VettaFi.com, talks about international cash-cows as he picks his ETF of the Week, Meredith Stoddard of Fidelity Investments discusses the high physical, emotional and financial costs of being a caregiver to both special-needs children and aging parents, and discusses the need for appropriate planning. And Corie Wagner, senior industry analyst at Savings.com, talks about the rising costs of participating in bachelor and bachelorette parties, and how it's not necessarily inflation that can be blamed for the bigger payouts that friends and family members endure ahead of the wedding these days.

Stanley Teitelbaum, a clinical psychologist who authored a book on the "self-defeating patterns" that individual investors make says that the market's first-half losses has pushed many investors into a bad type of inaction, one where they don't want to make a move until their position gets back to break-even or recaptures a recent high, neither of which is guaranteed. While no one wants to accept losses, Teitelbaum says investors who evaluate securities on their prospects rather than on the price of purchase will be making smarter moves. Also on the show, Chuck answers a question from a fortunate investor who wants to figure out what to do with an oversized cash stash, and Chance Finucane, chief investment officer at Oxbow Advisors, talks stocks in the Market Call.

Brian Jacobsen, senior investment strategist at Allspring Global Investments, says that if the Federal Reserve knew in March what it knows now in terms of economic health, it would have moved more cautiously. Having acted as it did, he thinks the Fed is unlikely to pull off the hoped-for soft landing, but he believes the market will avoid a crash, leaving the economy with a rough landing, one that could see the stock market improve late in the year before it finds more trouble in 2023. Jacobsen notes that he favors domestic and emerging markets for riding out the trouble, feeling that the U.S. is best positioned, that emerging markets minus China and Russia are the best value and developed Europe -- where he is underweight -- is headed for the toughest troubles. Also on the show, Michael Hershfield, chief executive officer at Accrue Savings, discusses the firm's survey of customers using "Buy Now, Pay Later" programs and how one-third of borrowers are using credit cards to cover those "later payments," meaning they can't afford their purchases, even on a payment plan. And in the Market Call, William Smead, manager of the Smead Value Fund, is here talking stocks, noting that he has changed his long-held tune about big oil and energy companies after years of saying they were not buyable.

Sheldon Jacobson, a University of illinois professor who specializes in operations research, discusses shrinkflation -- where companies hold prices steady but reduce packaging sizes as a means of disguising rising costs -- and says that while the trend is prevalent right now, it works poorly in high-inflation markets because consumers are only caught unaware for a moment. While consumers wake up to the trend and focus on unit prices, Jacobson says that shrinkflation has heavy costs on society, increasing packaging costs, waste production and more that are largely ignored. The show today also looks at the latest "mind the Gap" study from Morningstar with Amy Arnott, portfolio strategist for the research firm, who says that consumers continue seeing their personal performance lag behind the results of the funds they own, a sign of chasing performance and having poor timing results. In the Danger Zone segment, investment analyst Kyle Guske focuses on Beyond Meat, another "zombie stock" being pushed to the edge of bankruptcy by rising interest rates and changing economic conditions, and in the Market Call, Chris McMahon, president of Aquinas Wealth, makes his debut on the show and talks stock investing.

Armando Senra, head of Americas ETF and Index business for BlackRock, says that the Federal Reserve's message this week cleared a path for a slower pace of tightening over the remainder of the year, but that investors must embrace volatility and sustained inflation to take advantage of the market environment. Senra says that weathering the current market storm requires investors with a long-term outlook willing to look past current events to see the industries that will be poised for a comeback when economic conditions improve. In The NAVigator segment, portfolio manager Tim Ryan from Nuveen covers the municipal bond market and how it is disconnected with the Treasury market's inverted yield curve to offer some bounce-back potential for the second half of the year. Also on the show, Jake Wujastyk of TrendSpider.com discusses the market's technicals and how it is trying hard to find a level and build a base for the next rally, and in the Market Call, Art Amador of Equbot talks about using artificial intelligence and machine learning as a means of selecting stocks.

Chun Wang, senior analyst and portfolio manager at the Leuthold Group, says that the market has priced in a shallow recession -- a near soft landing -- but that the Federal Reserve's record of engineering such a smooth outcome is poor, leaving a strong chance that the central bank tightens too much and dramatically increases the risk and severity of recession. Wang believes that inflation has peaked or nearly peaked, but that it will likely settle in around 5 percent -- a level higher than the Fed wants -- eliminating the obvious moves and leaving much harder choices amid a damaged market in 2023. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of VettaFi talks about two key factors in today's market -- high quality and low volatility -- in picking his ETF of the Week, Giles Coghlan, chief currency analyst at HYCM returns to help Chuck answer an audience member's question on trying to take advantage of changes in exchange rates around the strengthening dollar, and Charles Rotblut of the American Association of Individual Investors discusses the 'expected value' of buying a Mega Millions ticket for this week's billion-dollar lottery, and why this is one of the rare times when it makes investment sense to take a flyer.

Giles Coghlan, chief currency analyst at HYCM, says that the economy is reaching a turning point where the Federal Reserve must consider slowing interest rate hikes or risk that those increases will kill off economic growth. Coghlan notes that while all central banks are dealing with this now, the US economy will have the largest impact on the potential for a global recession. Also on the show, Dan DeYoung, portfolio manager for Columbia Threadneedle's floating rate and high-yield bond funds discusses how rate hikes are impacting the credit markets and whether higher rates will trigger significantly greater levels of corporate defaults, Matt Schulz discusses a LendingTree study of how consumers are changing back-to-school shopping habits in the face of higher prices, and Chuck talks about a way to get a win out of the upcoming $1 billion MegaMillions jackpot without even buying a ticket.

Marko Papic, chief strategist at the Clocktower Group, says that while inflation in the range of 3 to 6 percent "will not kill" consumers, it will kill the technology sector because any unprofitable tech companies can't keep borrowing at super low rates to keep the business rolling while they get to profitability. He believes other markets besides the United States are better positioned to support their technology businesses moving forward, which is part of a trend that will see investors want to own China and Japan and Europe during times while inflation remains high. Also on the show, Nathan Furr, author of "The Upside of Uncertainty: A Guide to Finding Possibility in the Unknown," discusses how consumers and savers can lean into the uncertainty of current times and markets to find a path to something better and more interesting, Christian Mitchell of Northwestern Mutual discusses the latest release from the firm's 2022 Planning and Progress Study, which showed how planning significantly improved investor satisfaction and confidence during the current downturn, and Chuck answers a listener's question about I-bonds.

Justin Fitzpatrick, co-founder of Income Lab, says that while investors and retirement savers are starting to freak out about what the market has done to their portfolio values, they should be considering instead whether recent declines have actually impacted their ability to afford the retirement lifestyle they're planning. Funding your lifestyle is what matters in retirement, Fitzpatrick says, while movements in the market are fleeting and may not have much impact on retirement income. Zoe Barry of Zingeroo looks at how investors on the platform have been changing their behaviors in current markets, noting that many younger investors have turned away from the things they know and are comfortable with -- which was pushing them toward meme stocks and popular names -- to broaden out their holdings now. Also on the show, Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America discusses the National Association for Business Economics July 2022 Business Conditions Survey released today, and David Trainer of New Constructs puts SNAP Inc. back in the Danger Zone, saying the big losses it has suffered don't make it immune from losing the rest of its value.

Vincent Reinhart, chief economist and macro strategist for Dreyfus and Mellon, says there is "no safe place for an investor right now except cash" and inflation-protected securities, due to high inflation and the Federal Reserve's inability to this point to get prices under control. As a result, Reinhart says that the economy is either in or entering a shallow recession, with a recovery that could take a while to arrive and that might not be particularly robust when it gets here. Ed Moya, senior market analyst at OANDA, talks technical analysis and why investors are so cautious about risky assets now and why they're not likely to act differently to the market until there's a reason for optimism return until inflation is no longer the primary driver for markets; Timothy Reick, chief executive officer at Liberty Street Advisors -- advisor to the Private Shares Fund -- discusses why private equity is an asset class that is not correlated to the broad stock market that individual investors largely overlook in their portfolios. And in the Market Call, Jason Herried, director of equity strategies at Johnson Financial Group, talks about investing in mutual funds and ETFs and balancing long-term portfolio plans with shorter-term market opportunities.

Erik Weisman, chief economist at MFS Investments, says the macro environment is headed lower and weaker and will take the stock market with it, and while he does not expect this to lead to "a horrible outcome," but with the Federal Reserve likely to raise interest rates above ts comfort level in order to combat inflation, he has little doubt that a recession is coming. Weisman expects current challenges to last into 2023, but he is hopeful that the recession will come quickly to help it pass; he notes that if the recession doesn't happen until later in 2023, "it will be that much more difficult to achieve a soft landing." In the ETF of the Week, Tom Lydon of VettaFi.com looks at the long bonds and says they belong on investors' watch lists if trend lines keep moving in improving directions; in the Market Call, Gerry Frigon, chief investment officer at Taylor Frigon Capital Management talks about growth investing and how the market's slow start to the year has put a lot of good businesses down to where they are compelling long-term values for investors willing to wait out a recovery.

Steven Dover, chief market strategist at Franklin Templeton -- head of the Franklin Templeton Investment Institute -- says that the current stock market and economic situation is not going to play out exactly like some scenario from the past, so that experts are wasting their time harkening back to the 1970s or any other period to draw their forecasts. While many experts will say there's a mild recession in the offing, Dover says that anyone making that prediction needs to consider that there is the potential for something worse. In searching for safe havens, Dover notes that fixed income "now makes more sense than it did at the peak of the market," due to relative price differences caused by the stock and bond markets falling simultaneously through the first half of the year. Also on the show, Jeff Ptak, chief ratings officer at Morningstar, talks about research showing that star ratings -- which were always described as being backward-looking and not good predictors of future results -- actually have benefits in forecasting which funds will be solid future performers, and Chuck answers a listener's question about sequence-of-return risk and whether holding extra cash could help defeat it.

Michele Schneider, director of trading education at MarketGauge.com, says she has limited exposure to the stock market right now because technical analysis shows the market as being "stuck in a range," that she thinks is likely to end with a downward move, which could last until inflation problems are resolved. Schneider says the dollar could be peaking right now, which could create a prolonged boost for precious metals, "which we think haven't really woken up right now." Also on the show, Marketwatch columnist and editor Rex Nutting discusses his recent period about why Americans are so grumpy about the economy in a period where a deep dive through the numbers proves that conditions aren't as bad as angry investors and consumers are making them out to be. In the Market Call, Andrey Kutusov, portfolio manager at Seven Canyons Advisors, talks about being a growth-stock investor at a time when the market is showing signs of limited growth.

George Milling-Stanley, chief gold strategist at State Street Global Advisors, says that the Federal Reserve's signals that it will do whatever it takes to get inflation under control has created conditions in which all markets -- stocks, bonds, commodities and more -- suffer. While Milling-Stanley doesn't think the Fed wants to create a recession, but he says it will take that step if that's what's needed to "knock out any sense that inflationary expectations have become embedded" in the economy. Also on the show, John Petrides, portfolio manager at Tocqueville Asset Management, says the market is at a crossroads, where it could rally before year-end or where 2022 ends painfully. Petrides says the market is closer to the bottom than it was at the start of the year, but he expects three months of volatility before the market gets to where it can sort things out on inflation and set a path forward. And while the entire market might feel troubled right now, Kyle Guske of New Constructs sidesteps the "Danger Zone" his week by pointing out a stock that has been hit too hard by the market, and which he believes has now become particularly attractive now.

Barry Ritholtz, chairman and chief investment officer at Ritholtz Wealth Management, says that the best way to manage volatility is to "Stop looking at the week-to-week, month-to-month numbers and you focus on five-, 10 and 20-year returns because, really, if you're an investor, that's what you re putting your money away for." Ritholtz says that some of the market's current meltdown is "just mean reversion," with the stock market giving back the above-average returns it had during the bull market run, but the bulk of the problem is rising interest rates, rising costs of capital and credit and more that is crimping consumer spending, business economics and slowing the growth of revenues and profits in Corporate America. Also on the show, David Keller, chief market strategist at StockCharts.com, says he could see the stock market heading much lower -- down another 15 percent or more from here -- before rallying, though he sees big-name stocks finding some stability soon and helping to set up a base for a recovery, and John Cole Scott, chief investment officer at Closed-End Fund Advisors discusses business-development companies as they face upcoming second-quarter earnings reports, and how the numbers suggest that they are poised for improved performance, but also to continue a run where they have outperformed closed-end funds and other similar assets during the early part of the year.

Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, says while supply-chain induced inflation will ease up, housing inflation will require much more action on the part of policy-makers and he thinks it will be 2024 or '25 before home inflation stabilizes to something close to the Federal Reserve's targets. Brusuelas says there's "a 45 percent probability of a recession in the next 12 months," and he expects the market to move sideways until the Fed looks like it has resolved the inflation problem. In the interim, he says that investors may have to throw out the old saws and platitudes of money management to find industries poised to thrive regardless of market conditions. Also on the show, Tom Lydo of VettaFi.com discusses an ESG-based version of a standard broad-market index fund as the proverbial better mousetrap for investors to consider, and Louis Navellier of Navellier and Associates returns to the Market Call for the first time since the start of the pandemic to chat stocks and growth.

Whitney Tilson, chief executive officer at Empire Financial Research, says he's concerned that Tether, the world's largest stablecoin, is a "fraud" and running out of money. He worries that if Tether crashes "the entire crypto sector goes with it ... and you don't want to invest in a sector where there's a 50-50 chance you'll lose half your money in a matter of days." Tilson talks extensively about what he does trust and is buying in current market conditions, noting that he is maintaining a balance between value stocks trading below their intrinsic value and companies with superior long-term growth characteristics. Also on the show, Bryan Armour, director of passive strategies research at Morningstar, discusses the firm's new survey on mutual fund fees, showing that consumers saved billions of dollars last year by investing in low-cost funds, bringing down the average expense ratio being paid even further, down to roughly 0.4 percent. And in the Market Call, Mike Larson, senior analyst at Weiss Ratings and editor of Weiss's Safe Money Report talks about safe stocks in today's topsy-turvy conditions.

Molly Schwartz, a portfolio manager on the U.S. Broad Market team at Western Asset Management, says a recession can be avoided for the rest of the year if the Federal Reserve "takes a more measured approach" and sticks to it. Even if there is a recession, Schwartz said what matters is how people feel it, and they're not likely to feel much pain while the job market is still growing and workers are getting raises, and more. Also on the show, Chuck answers audience-member questions about what's wrong with an individual investor taking a flyer on riskier stocks and strategies, as well as how to determine if a financial adviser has the 'right credential' to help with retirement planning, and Nancy Tengler, chief investment strategist at Laffer Tengler Wealth Management talks growth at a reasonable price in the Market Call.

Market strategist Lawrence McDonald, creator of The Bear Traps Report, says that the Federal Reserve is not "going to get rid of inflation with six months of rate hikes," which is a big reason why he is calling for market doldrums that amount to several years of mostly sideways. While not anticipating a big crash, McDonald says that investors should avoid the Standard & Poor's 500 and Nasdaq Composite indexes -- which he says have been destroyed of late -- and instead pursue emerging markets and value stocks. Also on the show, David Schiffman, manager of the Aquila High Income Fund (ATPAX), says that the current environment for high-yield bonds is unlike anything he has seen in his long career, noting that there is a lot of push and pull between mixed economic numbers; Schiffman says the junk-bond space "is in much better shape" than before central bankers started raising traits and he expects to see that improvement continue. And in the Danger Zone segment, David Trainer singles out Tesla and Twitter as prime examples of the many stocks with inflated street earnings that could lead to a bad beat when the quarterly numbers are issued over the next few weeks.

Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab & Co., says that the next step the stock market must take to begin a recovery involves adjusting earnings expectations, noting that several years of record earnings "set the bar too high," and now investors must adjust to lower, more realistic gains. Yes, she notes, valuations have dropped due to the bear market, pricing "a heck of a lot of negativity into the market," but it's now time for 'the E to come under pressure.' Sonders notes that while she thinks the economy is in a recession, the label matters much less than the pain investors have been feeling. Also on the show, John Kosar, chief market strategist at Asbury Research, says the market is nearing "a strategic bottom," with bad news being priced into the market giving the potential for liftoff if the market sees any signs of improvement moving forward. And Rob Shaker of Shaker Financial Services, says that the closed-end fund market showed signs of a "sympathy widening" in mid-June, an event that can be a sign of a market bottom; if that holds -- without any additional excessive selling to reverse the recent trend -- it could mean a bounce-back is in the offing.

Steve Rick, chief economist at CUNA Mutual Group says that while economic growth has slowed -- causing what might be considered a "growth recession" -- the economy itself should be able to avoid a full-blown recession, as inflation eases and consumers and investors realize "they kind of overreacted a bit" to current conditions. But there's also a second Big Interview with a guy named Steve on this show, as Steve Sosnick, chief market strategist at Interactive Brokers says that the market must first find stability in low-risk assets like short-term Treasury bonds before investors can accurately size up riskier assets like stocks. He sees selective opportunities for patient investors right now, while waiting for the Federal Reserve "to take the foot off the brakes," which he thinks will help the market set a bottom and move forward to a rebound. Also on the show, for the second consecutive week, Tom Lydon of VettaFi.com turns to a managed-futures, commodity-based fund as his "ETF of the Week."

Sam Stovall, chief market strategist for CFRA Research, says that there's more pain ahead for the stock market, but that the end of the year is likely to see a bounce-back that serves as the start of a recovery. Stovall expects the Standard & Poor's 500 to hit roughly 3,200 -- which would be a 33 percent decline, and an average bear market -- before the turnaround starts around the December holidays. Thus, he says, the market will end up down for the year, but positioned for 2023 to be a big gainer, with the sectors that have suffered the most during the downturn taking the lead during the rebound. "Those things that were beaten up are the ones that offer the greatest opportunity," Stovall says. Also on the show, Chuck talks about robo-call scams where consumers are told there has been an unauthorized purchase to their Amazon.com account -- and plays four different times he got such calls -- and Kevin Miller, chief investment officer at the E-valuator Funds talks funds and ETFs in the Market Call.

Paula Pant, host of the Afford Anything podcast says that high inflation certainly impacts consumers emotions and feelings about money but it hasn't had much impact on their ability to achieve their financial goals, noting that people can still 'afford anything, but not everything,' with some stepped up planning to help deal with higher prices. Also on the show, journalism professor Chris Roush discusses his new book, "The Future of Business Journalism: Why It Matters for Wall Street and Main Street," noting that the business journalism community has changed to where it doesn't serve most investors and consumers particularly well; in the Market Call, Salem Abraham, founder of Abraham Trading Co. and manager of Abraham Fortress fund makes his debut talking top-down stock-picking.

With the stock market off to its worst first-half start to a year since 1962, Anu Ganti, senior director of index investment strategy at S&P Global, points to her firm's analysis showing that there is "no correlation between first half of the year performance and second half of the year performance." That doesn't mean that a rally is in the offing -- with 10 of 11 sectors and roughly 90 percent of the S&P 500 stocks down this year -- but it means one is possible. That sentiment also was clear in a Talking Technicals interview with Matt Fox, president of Ithaca Wealth Management, who says the downturn this year is getting to the point where people might want to start investing into it, not expecting a rapid rally but recognizing that conditions will be changing and improving as we get toward the end of the year. Also on the show, Ben McCulloch, managing director and general counsel at XA Investments, discusses developments in interval funds and tender-offer funds, and John Sullivan of the Olstein All Cap Value Fund talks stocks in the Market Call.