Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Edward Yardeni, president and chief investment strategist at Yardeni Research, says that the current wage-price-rent spiral is likely to spur businesses to spend money to increase the productivity of workers. If that innovation and change occurs -- and Yardeni believes there will be a 'productivity boom' -- a decade that started out pretty badly could instead turn into the Roaring 2020s. Yardeni says that solid economic underpinning will make it that inflation and interest rate hikes will not turn into a repeat of the 1970s, avoiding deep, long recessions or worse even while conditions feel bad. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of ETFTrends.com looks to emerging markets and internet/e-commerce for his ETF of the Week, and Ryan Jacob, chief investment officer of the Jacob Funds, talks technology stocks in the Market Call.

There is nothing about inflation hitting its highest levels in 40 years that makes anyone feel good, but Chuck looks beyond the big number to talk about the actual impact that higher prices are having on people, and concludes by noting that the costs and the choices inflation is creating are uncomfortable but manageable. As a result, while he understands the grumbles -- saying he complains himself every time he fills up his gas tank -- his bigger message remains that 'Higher inflation is not going to break you.' Also on the show, Marketwatch columnist Brett Arends discusses the fallout from Barstool Sports founder Dave Portnoy calling Warren Buffett 'washed up,' a call that looks particularly foolish given the time since when Warren Buffett's personal fortune roughly doubled to over $100 billion in short order. Mark Hamirck of Bankrate.com discusses his site's latest survey of workers and their outlook on jobs and working conditions, and Jillian DelSignore of FLX Networks discusses the evolution of the ETF business and the trend of traditional mutual funds converting to the exchange-traded fund structure.

Matt Hougan, chief investment officer at Bitwise Asset Management, says that the cryptocurrency market's fear over regulation is misplaced, and while threats of regulation send the market into a tizzy, he thinks that worry is misplaced and directed toward heavy-handed regulatory efforts. He thinks the potential for regulation will turn from a headwind to a tailwind, because decentralized finance goes mainstream through regulatory guidance that makes consumers more comfortable with digital assets. In a wide-ranging interview, Hougan also talks about how cryptocurrencies have performed against inflation, in the war in Ukraine and more, and discusses how non-fungible tokens are the latest verse in an age-old song of how societies develop arts and cultures during times of financial success. Also on the show, Shelly-Ann Eweka, senior director for advice strategy for TIAA, talks about how gig workers and others with non-traditional jobs can still participate in traditional retirement-savings programs, and David Miller of the Catalyst Mutual Funds discusses investing with an eye on climate change in the Market Call.

David Trainer, founder and president of New Constructs, says that HubSpot is worth only about 15 percent of what its stock currently is trading for, and he's putting it in 'The Danger Zone' because it faces stiff competition in an industry that is being commoditized, leaving it littel room to grow profitably, let alone at the incredibly high valuation the market has given the stock for now. We've also got Mike Bailey of FBB Capital partners, back to discuss his new book 'Stop. Think. Invest: A Behavioral Finance Framework for Optimizing Investment Portfolios, plus Ken Mahonet of Mahoney Asset Management talks stocks and ETFs in the Market Call, and Chuck shares his thoughts and appreciation for Ned Johnson, the man who built Fidelity Investments from a family business to the world's largest and most influential financial-services firms.

Joe Kalish, chief global macro strategist at Ned Davis Research, says that longer-term inflation will be what determines whether the economy can continue to avoid a recession and the market can sidestep a protracted downturn. With that in mind, Kalish expects the Federal Reserve to raise rates repeatedly until it can be confident that inflation has peaked, is passing through temporary troubles and gets to long-term target levels at 2.1 percent. Kalish, says, though, that he believes that goal will take longer than the Fed expects to be accomplished, meaning that economic doldrums will also go on for longer than forecast. In The NAVigator segment, Mitchel Penn of Oppenheimer and Co., talks about the challenges of analyzing and evaluating business-development companies, highlighting why one particular BDC -- Runway Growth Finance Corp. -- appears ready to outperform the market and the competition. And in the Market Call, Mike Bailey, director of research for FBB Capital Partners, talks about taking a "beat and raise" approach to managing a portfolio of stocks during trying market conditions.

Hank Smith, head of investment strategy for The Haverford Trust Co., says that rising volatility and heightened uncertainty shouldn't push investors out of the market, because times like these prove the value of being fully invested in all conditions, and having money in the market whenever a bottom is reached. In the Market Call, Smith talks about how owning great companies with long histories of dividend payments creates the confidence to ride out tough times en route to long-term success. In the 'ETF of the Week' segment, Tom Lydon, chief executive at ETFTrends.com, discusses one of the biggest, most-popular ETFs -- a Standard and Poor's 500 Index fund from Vanguard -- noting that the pick isn't just trending but it's an appropriate allocation for investors with too much cash on the sidelines. Also on the show, Kirsten Grind, co-author of 'Happy At Any Cost: The Revolutionary Vision and Fatal Quest of Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh,' and Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.com discussing the site's 2022 Gas Cards Survey and whether using a branded card can really help you out at the pump.

Jeffrey Cleveland, chief economist at Payden and Rygel, says that he expects inflation to settle down and for the economy to reach full-employment levels by the end of the year, creating earnings and economic growth that sidesteps any potential recession. Cleveland expects the market to recover its early-year losses and show modest profits by the end of the year. Also on the show, Shelly-Ann Eweka of TIAA discusses survey results showing that women's finances in retirement make them much more financially vulnerable than men are, and Samuel Adams, chief executive officer of Vert Asset Management -- which runs the Vert Global Sustainable Real Estate Fund -- talks environmental, social and governance (ESG) in the Market Call.

Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global market strategist at Charles Schwab & Co., says that earnings will continue to power the stock market which he expects to overcome current concerns about high inflation and rising interest rates to finish the year with the kind of high single-digit gains he was expecting several months ago when he posted his annual outlook. Kleintop says he expects inflation to calm quickly enough that investors might forego the traditional hedges in favor of international investments, which he says tend to do well in inflationary times and which will outperform the standard inflation-driven portfolio moves. Also on the show, Sham Ganglani discusses Fidelity Investments' latest State of Retirement Planning study, noting the conditions of the typical retirement saver coming out of the pandemic, and Eric Boughton of Matisse Capital talks about closed-end fund investing in the Market Call.

Terri Spath, founder and chief investment officer at Zuma Wealth, says that stock market and economic conditions have her lightening up on technology stocks but adding to commodities, going up to her traditional limits on commodities because that's where managers can deliver a better return in markets currently affected by the war in Ukraine and more. Spath notes that she is moving away from bonds, most notably floating-rate bonds -- despite a rising-rate environment that has many experts expecting them to thrive -- high-yield corporates and even Treasury bonds. Spath says she still believes the stock market will book gains for 2022, with most of the positive action coming in the second half of the year. Also on the show, Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter, discusses the latest Economic Policy Survey out today from the National Association for Business Economics, Kyle Guske of New Constructs says a classic mutual fund with one of the most veteran managers ever -- more than 50 years at the helm -- is headed for trouble, and Allen Bond, the head of research at Jensen Investment Management talks in the Market Call about buying high-quality businesses at reasonable prices.

Matt Harris, chief investment officer at The Hausberg Group, says that it has been a market year of extremes, a polarizing year where the stock and bond markets have been oversold, gold has been overbought and investors and their emotions have been whipsawed by the moves. Yet he sees many of the factors creating those conditions as mitigating and calming down now, and as those factors stabilize he notes that things will get 'less bad,' which should be enough to keep the market on solid footing and with slow gains moving forward. Craig Callahan, chief executive at ICON Advisers returns to the show, following on Thursday's discussion about his book on 'unloved' bull markets, noting that he sees stocks on average right now to be about 9 percent below the firm's fair value estimate right now. Further, Callahan says that 2022 may be a year where there are positive outcomes despite no catalyst for a market rally, because 'if you priced in horrible and it turns out just being bad, you could have a rally.' Plus, Seth Brufsky of the Ares Dynamic Credit Allocation Fund talks about how current events are affecting the capital markets, and Chuck talks about how important it is for investors to lean into all types of risk now.