Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Marshall Stocker, co-director of the emerging market team for Eaton Vance Management, says that in the face of global inflation and a waning pandemic, emerging markets countries are addressing issues in a more conventional or orthodox manner than developed countries, which he sees as bullish as it should help those countries to sidestep the fallout from a decade of zero-rate policies from the last decade. It has emerging markets, Stocker says, looking much more like a traditional asset class and less like a volatile new frontier than ever before. In another Big Interview, Gregg Fisher, portfolio manager, Quent Capital discusses global small-cap investing and the growing opportunities he sees in nascent companies. There are also two different surveys discussed on today's show, first with Eric Wagatha, head of consumer life for GfK discussing how Americans are putting off major life decisions post-pandemic, and then with Michelle Delgado of Clever Real Estate on how the housing market is so hot that even haunted houses are moving, and how homebuyers find a lot of things to be more frightening than ghosts.

Willie Delwiche, investment strategist for All Star Charts, says that the messy, sloppy range-bound market that we've seen since February is going to continue sideways for a while but ultimately will resolve itself to the upside, confirming a consolidation that is healthy for the long term. Delwiche believes the next rally will be led by different types of stocks -- financials instead of tech stocks, mid- and small-caps instead of large-caps -- plus commodities and more. Also on the show, Amy Arnott of Morningstar discusses the firm's annual 'Mind the Gap' research showing how badly investors perform relative to the mutual funds they are buying, John Cole Scott of Closed-End Fund Advisors helps Chuck answer some questions that dig into the inside baseball of closed-end investing, and Ed Slott of IRAhelp.com gives his tax tips on moves investors might want to make before the year ends.

Jared Bibler, author of 'Iceland's Secret: The Untold Story of the World's Biggest Con' discusses the collapse of the frontier market's economy and market in 2008, a chapter in financial history largely unnoticed in the US because America was going through its own financial crisis, caused by the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Bibler notes that the three Icelandic banks that imploded at that time were -- to the small country's economy -- ' the size of 300 Lehman Brothers' representing about 90 percent of Iceland's stock market as a result of stock buy-backs that are similar-yet-different to the ones Americans see happening domestically every day. Also on the show, Ted Pulsifer discusses a Piplsay.com study on how buy-now/pay-later programs are becoming increasingly popular, which may also be making them financially hazardous, investment analyst Kyle Guske of New Constructs puts a mutual fund in 'the Danger Zone," and Chuck discusses the latest twist in his annual 'Cash or candy' Halloween experiment.

Market strategist Larry McDonald, creator of The Bear Traps Report, says that with inflation holding at a higher trajectory than the last 10 years, investors need to move away from growth stocks and head towards commodities and hard-asset companies plus value stocks moving forward. In another Big Interview segment, real estate expert Brian Icenhower of Icenhower Coaching and Consulting says the nation isn't facing a housing bubble -- which will burst and dissipate -- so much as a housing crisis, that will dramatically impact home prices for the foreseeable future. Also on the show, investment strategist Matt Harris of Aperture Research Partners talks technical analysis and the current range-bound market, and Sam Brothwell of Energy Income Partners discusses energy infrastructure investing and why renewable energy doesn't make legacy energy stocks a bad investment.

Veteran journalist and market observer Herb Greenberg -- now senior editor at Empire Financial Research -- says that investors have a distorted view about returns, fueled by the market's post-pandemic rise, that has resulted in a loss of selling discipline. 'Everybody thinks they are entitled to these gazillion percent returns,' he says, and they have lost sight of what it means to have a 'good investment.' As a result, he fears that 'A lot of people will learn a very hard lesson who probably can't afford to learn that lesson.' Also on the show, Tom Lydon, of ETFTrends.com names an entire suite of funds that are built to give investors more control his 'ETF of the Week,' and Gary Black of The Future Fund Active ETF talks Tesla and other game-changing stocks in the Market Call.

Giles Coghlan, chief currency analyst at HYCM, says that bond rates have been moving higher because investors expect central banks to raise interest rates as a response to inflation. He worries, however, that the central banks are ill-equipped to combat inflation caused by supply-chain problems rather than inflation as an offshoot of a normal economic cycle. That could create stagflation, a situation when inflation is high while growth is low, which would be bad for the global economy. Also on the show, Noland Langford, chief executive officer at Left Brain Investment Research talks about energy as an income play and identifies a stock, bond, preferred stock and ETF worthy of consideration, Chance Finucane of Oxbow Advisors discusses stocks in the Market Call, and Chuck pays tribute to his friend -- and our guest at the end of every quarter -- Michael Falk.

Warren Pierson, deputy chief investment officer for the Baird Funds, says that while the Federal Reserve initially suggested that 'transitory' inflation would be here for a matter of months, it's now a much longer definition as the pace of recovery is slower than expected. Still, Pierson says that inflation will abate and eventually give the Fed what it has been hoping for, a level slightly north of 2 percent. Pierson also gives his outlook for fixed income -- covering virtually every bond type from mortgage-backed securities to junk bonds -- in a wide-ranging chat. In the Book Interview, author Eswar Prasad discusses 'The Future of Money,' and his expectation that the world will become a cashless society sooner than later, but not necessarily in ways that cryptocurrency experts expect. Also on the show, Jill Gonzalez of WalletHub.com talks about a survey showing that more than 40 percent of consumers would pay more for flights and/or hotels that only allowed customers vaccinated against Covid-19, and John Cole Scott of Closed-End Fund Advisors and the Active Investment Company Alliance helps Chuck answer a listener's question about whether closed-end funds are appropriate for younger investors and taxable accounts.

Michael Kelly, global head of multi-asset at PineBridge Investments, says that the global economic recovery has changed its shape -- going from the V-recovery that many people hoped for -- to something more gradual but longer-lasting, largely following the path of vaccination around the world. Kelly also discusses how he is responding to the challenges of a low-yield/rising-inflation fixed-income market. Also on the show, David Trainer of New Constructs identifies five companies that he expects to have big misses in the upcoming earnings season, Doug Milnes, head of data analysis at MoneyGeek.com, discusses some of the dichotomies between consumer optimism and behavior, and top-down investor/trader Leon Wilfan talks stocks in the Market Call.

Everett Millman, precious metals specialist at Gainesville Coins, says that while investors traditionally turn to gold to act as a hedge against inflation, precious metals haven't been as good of a hedge as stocks and other assets. Millman says the market seems to be buying the narrative that inflation is transitory, noting that money has been flowing out of precious metals at a time when most people would expect demand to be high; it has also limited gold's effectiveness in these inflationary, rising-rate times. In The NAVigator segment, Eric Chadwick, president at Flaherty & Crumrine, says that preferred securities are the 'sweet spot' in this market, offering relatively attractive yields without adding significant risk to a portfolio. Also on the show, Catherine Golladay discusses how workers are more stressed about their finances now, but also more optimistic that they are moving in the right directions, and the Market Call is a rebroadcast of a recent chat with Nancy Tengler, chief investment strategist at Laffer Tengler Wealth Management.

Historian Kyle Harper, author of 'Plagues Upon the Earth; Disease and the Course of Human History,' says in the Book Interview today that the coronavirus is just the latest worldwide disease phenomenon and that those past events have spurred positives like developments and negatives like inequality. He discusses the outcomes from history and how current events will impact society and the markets for years. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of ETFTrends.com makes a brand new fund with an eye on frontier markets his ETF of the Week, Bruce Monrad of Northeast Investors Trust talks the bond market and the hunt for yield in a rising rate/inflation market, and Chuck answers a listener's question about dividend investing.