Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

John Kosar, chief market strategist at Asbury Research, says the stock market hit a key support level at the beginning of October, which typically has been triggering market rebounds. As a result, he sees current conditions as a "low-risk, high opportunity" place to put money to work in the market now. Mary Ryan, senior wealth advisor at The Vanguard Group, discusses the firm's research showing that investors who have the option of contributing to a health-savings account can goose their long-term investment returns by prioritizing the HSA, rather than thinking of it solely as a savings account to pay for medical costs. She suggests that savers turn to HSAs higher in their priority list for savings, just behind getting the free money of an employer's matching monies, but ahead of additional retirement-plan contributions and Roth IRAs. Plus, Allison Hadley covers a survey by AllStarHome.com on the financial impacts of living at home or in their hometown, and Gerry Frigon of Taylor Frigon Capital Management talks about buying growth stocks in the Market Call.

Craig Callahan, founder and chief executive officer at ICON Advisers and the ICON Funds, says that he's not seeing the overpricing you'd expect at a market peak or the bargains visible in typical market bottoms, so he expects the market to "drift higher" over the next six to nine months. But those gains will be led by different stocks and sectors than what drove the market to gains earlier this year. Callahan says the market has turned since May 31, with energy leading, and economically sensitive areas like financials have been strong too; "that really narrow market that we didn't think made sense, it ended May 31st" he said. "We're in a new market now." Also on the show, Kyle Guske, investment analyst at New Constructs revisits a stock that has been in the Danger Zone for years, but that has rebounded well this year to set up the next round of troubles, John Cabble of J.D. Power discusses the firm's latest look into payment patterns and looks at the deteriorating credit situation for most Americans, and Bob Olstein, founder and chief investment officer at Olstein Capital Management discusses stock investing in the Market Call.

Brian Andrew, chief investment officer at Johnson Financial Group, sees more potential negative economic outcomes than positive ones, ranging from a likely recession to possible stagflation, which should keep investors cautious but looking for opportunities in the year ahead. While he worries about the troubles ahead -- particularly with two wars in the world right now -- Andrew says he does not expect a deep global recession, but something more isolated and affecting some pockets of the market -- like interest-rate sensitive businesses -- harder than the rest. Also on the showm, harder than others. Roxanna Islam of VettaFi discusses how ETFs that buy closed-end funds have held up in a year when closed-end funds have delivered high yields but low total returns and seen widening discounts. Dan Passarelli, founder/chief executive, Market Taker Mentoring says the market is currently stuck between its 50 and 200 day moving averages, which makes movement hard to determine but which is creating short-term volatility conditions that are favorable for traders. Plus Rob Thummel, senior portfolio manager at TortoiseEcofin, talks about hwo dividend-hungry investors are going to find what they want moving forward in the energy sector.

Nate Thooft, chief investment officer at Manulife Investment Management, says that the strength of domestic stocks has been such that they are overpriced relative to international issues, which is why he has been light on U.S. equities of late. Thooft expects equity conditions to change at some point in the next year as a recession sets in, bringing with it "value destruction" that . Once that happens and there's been some "value destruction," it will be time to be more excited about stocks, but particularly the domestic issues. Also on the show, Tom Lydon, vice chairman at VettaFi, makes an active-income strategy his ETF of the Week, Matt Brannon discusses research from Clever Real Estate showing that one in four Americans is falling deeper into credit-card debt each month, and Clark Kendall, president of Kendall Capital Management, talks stocks in the Market Call.

Ron Sanchez, chief investment officer at Fiduciary Trust Company International, says that stock valuations are running high right now, making it that "the compensation for equity isn't nearly as good as it has been for the better part of a decade," which has made fixed-income investments look like a better bargain. Moreover, while Sanchez is calling for a soft landing economically and believes that the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates, it is creating opportunities for bond investors now. Jeff Muhlenkamp, portfolio manager at the Muhlenkamp Fund does the Market Call, noting that the fund has put some money to work in the six months since he was last on the show, but explaining why he's not fully invested now and doesn't expect to be for a while, and noting that individual investors might follow his lead. Plus, Russel Kinnel, director of manager research at Morningstar, discusses research showing how money flows into or out of funds after changes are made to the firm's medalist and star ratings, noting that while star ratings continue to have the biggest impact on fund flows, the medalist ratings -- done with the input of analysts instead of based entirely on quantitative measures -- are having a greater impact than in the past.

Patrick Luce, economist at ITR Economics, says that current economic trends are building a storm that will result in a depression in the 2030s, and a small recession next year, but he notes that investors should treat the 2024 decline as a buying opportunity, positioning themselves for the market to pick up before the big trouble comes in the next decade. And while Luce sees that big event damaging portfolios, he notes that prepared investors will build portfolios leading up to it, and be positioned to profit as the market rebounds out of it long-term. Will Rhind, chief executive officer at GraniteShares, returns to the show to discuss single-stock ETFs and the various flavors of them -- long, short and leveraged -- that his firm has unleashed and how investors should approach them. Also, Steven Benna of travel-insurance company Squaremouth discusses how travelers are expecting trip costs to be higher next year, and why those higher prices are not just about global inflation, and forensic accountant Tracy Coenen is back for the final installment of "Find Me The Money," talking about how anyone concerned about getting a fair share in divorce should also be looking at estate planning and other ways to make sure their families and heirs get their just due, especially in situations of second marriages and blended families.

Alan Gayle, president of Via Nova Investment Management, says that the current negativity around the bond market has hidden "the opportunity [longer-term investors] have been waiting for," noting that government and investment-grade corporate bonds are now delivering the kind of yield that -- after years of bonds paying nothing -- can help achieve long-term income goals. Gayle does not believe a recession is happening soon, but as consumers lose strength -- and they have since the start of the year -- and the impact of rising rates eventually hurt economic growth rates, the likelihood of trouble late next year or beyond increases. Also on the show, economist Jack Kleinhenz discusses the latest Outlook Survey from the National Association for Business Economics -- released today -- showing that less than half of the surveyed economists expect a recession now. Plus David Trainer of New Constructs puts a stock in the Danger Zone that he thinks is due for a big miss during the upcoming earnings season, and Janet Brown of the FundX Upgrader Funds and the No-Load Fund*X newsletter, talks funds and ETFs in the Market Call.

Matt Gertken, chief strategist, global and U.S. political strategy at BCA Research, says that higher levels of leadership uncertainty lead to lower stock prices, and that the peak polarization in U.S. politics has taken the government's eyes off the ball when it comes to the actions of Russia and China, which could lead to policy mistakes and real costs on Americans in the global marketplace. Gertkin explains that the political gridlock is not all bad news for investors, noting that it restricts how far either side can go in blowing out the budget, but says that a recession is likely to lead to one party being swept into control. Jerremy Newsome of Real-Life Trading says the market's recent pullback "is a healthy rotation on the general broader uptrend of the markets," meaning that declines are buying opportunities because the market has room to run higher and is showing signs that it will, although much of that continuing rally may still be in mega-cap names. In The NAVigator segment, Robert Bush, director of closed-end products at Calamos Investments, says that discounts have widened to nearly 10 percent this year, and while closed-end funds haven't participated much in 2023's gains, they have become attractively priced, even though they are being challenged by many other investments when it comes to delivering good yields to investors. In the Market Call, Jeffrey DeMaso, editor, The Independent Vanguard Adviser, talks about "buying the manager, not the fund" to build a portfolio.

Steve Rick, chief economist at TruStage, expects the economy to slow in 2024 -- resulting in "a growth recession" rather than a traditional full-blown economic meltdown -- likely staving off a major stock market decline. Rick says he has heard from more nervous bank and credit union top dogs who are scared about economic conditions than at any time in his 30 plus year career and he worries that a slowdown in lending could be a trigger for something bigger and worse than he currently expects. Also on the show, Tom Lydon, vice chairman, VettaFi make a managed-futures fund his pick for ETF of the Week, Chuck talks the $1.2 billion Powerball jackpot from Wednesday night and why the lump-sum payment was one of the lowest any big-prize distributions in years, plus Brian Drubetsky -- manager of the Cullen Small Cap Value Strategy fund -- talks small- and mid-sized stocks in the Market Call.

Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust, says that third-quarter earnings season is likely to be where the market turns the corner to get positive year-o-ver-year comparisons, which may help the market get past the hurdle of higher interest rates and higher yields which has been a big reason why the market has struggled to have a broad-based rally this year. Stone says recession has been delayed, not canceled, though it could be well into next year before that happens. Also on the show, Simeon Hyman, global investment strategist at ProShares, discusses the firm's new funds based on ether futures; ether is the world's second-largest cryptocurrency behind bitcoin, and was the subject of new funds released by three different fund companies this week. In the Market Call, Bryan Armour, director of passive strategies research at Morningstar, discusses exchange-traded funds.