Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Matt Fox, president of Ithaca Wealth Management, says that the market appears to have shaken off current events in China that were creating downward pressure, and it could soon be back to flirting with record highs and resuming its long climb. Fox noted that his big worry is less about anything he sees in the charts and more about the potential for the economy to have surprisingly slow growth. Also on the show, Erik Herzfeld of Thomas J. Herzfeld Advisors says that investors are sacrificing returns for liquidity when they choose traditional mutual funds and ETFs instead of closed-end funds, financial adviser Vidal Peoples of Strategies for Wealth discusses taking a fiscal physical now, and Sneha Jose, director of behavioral finance for Stifel discusses investor biases and how individuals and their hard-wired thinking frequently short-circuit the best-laid investment plans.

Ron Sanchez, chief investment officer at Fiduciary Trust Company International, says that markets are facing some resistance in September after seven consecutive months of gains, and he expects that increased choppiness to continue into October, but his long-term outlook remains highly constructive, noting that economic growth from the recovery is being pushed out into 2022 and '23. Sanchez believes that we're still 'in the first half of this economic cycle over the next two or three years where economic growth could be north of 3 percent and closer to 4;' that would represent economic growth that is more than double pre-pandemic levels. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of ETFTrends.com makes a small, new thematic fund his ETF of the Week, saying he has big expectations and hopes for the fund, and Chuck answers a listener's question about whether and how to factor small investment positions and ideas into a portfolio. And in the Market Call, Mike Larson, senior analyst at Weiss Ratings, talks about 'safe-money' stocks in today's complicated environment.

Paul Christopher, head of global market strategy at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, says that the economic recovery pace in the United States is ahead of most foreign countries and is likely to stay that way for a year or more, but his long-term thinking suggests that changing globalization will use more robotics and artificial intelligence and more to localize production and make it that different countries move through cycles on their own pace, rather than as part of a large group. Also on the show, Francisco Bido of F/m Acceleration discusses in the Market Call how using a quantitative approach mixed with some fundamentals can find stocks poised for solid future growth, Francesca Ortegren from Clever Real Estate covers their latest survey showing an alarmingly large percentage of Americans have taken on or added to their credit card debt since the start of the pandemic, and Chuck answers a listener's question about some famous funds whose best days may be in the past.

Steve Rick, chief economist at CUNA Mutual Group, says that Coivd-19 and its variants remain the biggest issue facing the global economy right now because it has slowed the U.S. economy more than expected and it continues to drive expectations lower, at a time when rising inflation is a concern that could put a further damper on growth. Despite the uncertainty, Rick remains largely positive on the economy, provided that inflation spikes remain, as he expects, relatively short-lived. Also on the show, Gal Wettstein from the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College discusses how long most people have the ability to continue working, Chuck takes a listener's question about why guests sometimes celebrate bad investment ideas, and Jack Murphy, chief investment officer at Easterly Investment Partners looks for contrarian value investments in the Market Call.

David Trainer, president of New Constructs, says that new research from the firm shows that three-quarters of the Standard and Poor's 500 stocks have misstated earnings, and that 215 of those companies have overstated their profits by more than 10 percent. He cites Fortive Corp., which shows reported earnings of $4.62 per share, but with core earnings of 99 cents per share; as a result, Trainer says the $74 stock has an economic book value of roughly $21 per share, making a fair value somewhere between those extremes. Also on the show, Jacob Channel of LendingTree on how many renters believe the housing market has priced them out, permanently, Lawrence Shapiro talks about his book 'When Bad Thinking Happens to Good People' and, in the Market Call, Kathy Boyle of Chapin Hill Advisors discusses ETF investing.

Niladri Mukherjee, head of portfolio strategy at Merrill Lynch Bank of America Private Bank, thinks that equities will grind higher from current levels, but that progress will be based on a 'different playbook' driven by rising corporate earnings and narrower moves that force investors to dig into the numbers -- to 'get micro' looking at valuation opportunities -- rather than relying on the rising tide of indexes to carry them forward. Also on the show, Steve Seedhouse, managing director of biotechnology equity research for Raymond James discusses the long-term impacts of Covid on biotech stocks, noting that the virus has become endemic -- it will be with us indefinitely, requiring treatments in the future to cover any and all variants -- and that status changes the prospects for businesses responding to it. He also covers the emerging biotech processes that he believes have significant potential. Also on the show, James Thom, manager of the closed-end India Fund, discusses the country's remarkable growth rate during recovery and the opportunities it presents, and Danny Sullivan, director for risk for Verus Investments, talks about how investors need to consider inflation in terms of the danger it holds to their portfolio rather than as simply a threat to the market.

Rob Isbitts, chief investment strategist at Sungarden Investment Publishing, says that with the yield on the Standard and Poor's 500 is as low as it has been in years, investors trying to find good buys on dividend stocks are looking for the proverbial needle in a haystack. Isbitts, who has developed a new investment factor he calls YARP -- for 'yield at a reasonable price' -- says that yield-oriented investors are taking on too much risk for the distributions they're getting right now, a situation that's unlikely to change until the market goes through some sort of correction. Also on the show, Paul Dilda of BMO Harris Bank discusses BMO's Real Financial Progress Index and 'the knowing-doing gap,' where consumers know what they should so but aren't actually getting it done, Tom Lydon of ETFTrends.com looks to China for his ETF of the Week, and Benjamin Bailey of the Praxis Mutual Funds talks about fixed-income investing and the economy in The Big Interview.

Noland Langford, chief executive at Left Brain Investment Research, says that investors must adjust and deal with the current impact of inflation and continuing low rates, noting that '5 is the new 8,' and that investors may struggle to find good ways to generate a 5 percent yield. To meet that standard, Langord says he has gotten both more aggressive and more selective in using high-yield corporate bonds and preferred securities, and talks about a few examples that meet his investment criteria now. Also on the show, best-selling author Ben Mezrich discusses his latest book, 'The Antisocial Network: The GameStop Short Squeeze and the Ragtag Group of Amateur Traders That Brought Wall Street to Its Knees,' and says that the meme-stock fad started by that famous episode is not going away, and Scott Bennett, founder of Invest With Rules, puts his rules-based philosophy to the test in the Market Call.

Jan van Eck, chief executive officer at VanEck, says that government policy 'determines the weather' for markets and policy has been 'insanely supportive' of markets and while that is changing slowly he would suggest that investors have no reason to feel nervous while the Federal Reserve continues to support the market. van Eck talks about three multi-year investable trends, starting with the continued low interest rates and how they encourage people to keep borrowing now, but extending to the transition to renewable energy and then how blockchain technologies will change financial services. Also on the show, Simon Zhen discusses a recent MyBankTracker.com survey on who Americans learned their financial lessons from, Rosetta Bryson of Simple Trader Pro talks about how the market's technicals show fairly smooth sailing ahead, and Josh Duitz of the Aberdeen Standard Global Infrastructure Income fund talks infrastructure stocks in the Market Call.

It's a wide-ranging show today with author Alec Ross, discussing 'The Raging 2020s: Companies, Countries, People - and the Fight for Our Future,' and whether the times ahead look more like a Star Trek universe or the landscape of Mad Max. In the Danger Zone, David Trainer of New Constructs sees through the popularity of the Warby Parker IPO to discuss how the stock may be worth no more than 20 percent of its anticipated opening price, and in the Market Call, Jonathan Browne of Robinson Capital talks closed-end funds. Also, Chuck answers a question about a legislative proposal that would combat tax cheats, but which might also feel like an invasion of privacy.