Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Author Patel predicts an upcoming exuberant rally marked by rampant speculative behavior. Research analyst discusses consumer spending on athlete-endorsed products. David Trainer warns about the worrisome state of SNAP stock. Jason Browne covers tactical use of ETFs in the market call.

Veteran markets observer Nick Sargen, senior economic advisor at Fort Washington Investment Advisors, says he has been surprised by the strength of the market's current rally, but he doesn't see the market re-testing of lows -- even if the uptrend has gone too far, too fast -- so long as the Federal Reserve is nearly done with hiking rates. Sargen notes that one saving grace of the market's topsy-turvy year has been that fixed-income has started working again, paying investors while they wait for better conditions for stocks. Sargen noted that he also likes India and Japan as international investments now. Also on the show, Chris Oberbeck, chairman and chief executive officer at Saratoga Investment Corp., says that the changing rate, banking and inflation conditions have given business-development companies and private lenders more power to make good deals that can weather a recession, and in the Market Call, Dave Sekera, the chief U.S. market strategist at Morningstar, talks about buying stocks trading well below their fair-value estimate.

Steve Sosnick, chief market strategist at Interactive Brokers, says investors should be thinking defensively and looking at dividend stocks rather than hoping that central bankers will pivot and start cutting rates to boost the market, because he thinks the Fed will stick with higher rates until economic conditions deteriorate to where such a move is necessary. Tom Lydon, vice chairman at VettaFi, meanwhile, looks toward small-cap stocks with his pick for ETF of the Week, George Milling-Stanley of State Street Global Advisors returns to the show for a second day, going off the news to talk about how Fitch Ratings' cut of the U.S. credit rating will impact markets and gold, and Darren Chervitz of Jacob Discovery Fund talks about buying small - and micro-cap stocks at value prices in the Market Call.

George Milling-Stanley, chief gold strategist at State Street Global Advisors, says that a recession or period of slower growth will hurt the dollar and domestic stocks, creating ideal conditions for gold, particularly with the confluence of higher-for-longer inflation and election-year politics. Milling-Stanley notes that while gold has not been a great hedge against the recent inflation, he expects it to do better in that role going forward because 'we have not yet had the kind of inflation that gold has historically offered protection against.' Also on the show, Hamish Preston of S and P Dow Jones Indices, discusses how the stock market in July hit thresholds for success that had not been seen in nearly 30 years, Greg McBride of BankRate.com discusses Americans' most common financial regrets and, in the Market Call, Cullen Roche of the Discipline Funds talks systematic investment in exchange-traded funds.

Jeffrey Kleintop, chief global market strategist at Charles Schwab and Co., says that the cardboard box recession of the last year -- which affected manufacturing and trade sectors, effectively 'everything that goes in a cardboard box' -- has allowed the economy and market to push forward despite potential troubles, but now he sees difficult conditions hitting some of the service sectors which could lead to worse economic conditions. While he is not expecting a hard landing -- although he notes that the weather could be a surprising economic factor -- Kleintop expects volatility and conditions that favor international investments, particularly in Japan and India. Meanwhile, Kendall Dilley of Vineyard Global Advisors says that the market's technicals are pointing to a downturn, but showing enough strength that any correction should be a buying opportunity. Plus, Robbie Burns -- 'The Naked Trader' discusses 'The Naked Trader's Book of Trading Strategies', and forensic accountant Tracy Coenen talks about whether finding the money actually leads to recovering it and getting a payoff in the latest edition of 'Find Me The Money.'

Veteran money manager Bob Doll, chief investment officer at Crossmark Global Investments, has gotten famous making 10 predictions every year, and he sits down to revisit what he was saying at the start of the year and how it has been turning out. Thus far, it has been a mixed bag, but Doll notes that the market has been more optimistic than anyone expected for 2023, and now that investors are feeling fat and happy, they are likely to live through a recession. Also on the show, Christian Mitchell discusses the latest details from the 2023 Planning and Progress Study from Northwestern Mutual, showing that 35 percent of Americans say they're close to or at their highest-ever level of personal debt, Mitchell Morrison, creator of the Eyeballs app, talks about whether consumers will trust artificial intelligence and services like ChatGPT to do their financial planning, and Kyle Guske, of New Constructs puts a popular brand-name stock in the Danger Zone, noting that it could easily shed $100 per share from current price levels.

Jim Welsh, author of the 'Macro Tides' and 'Weekly Technical Review' newsletters, says that the leading economic indicators that had everyone expecting a recession a year ago have fooled investors by softening recently. While many experts now are predicting a soft landing and the potential for no recession, Welsh says key indicators -- like the inverted yield curve -- often take a year or more to pan out and they will come to roost in the next three to six months, reinforcing the possibility of a 5 to 7 percent market pullback before the year ends. Also on the show, Jon Baranko, chief investment officer for fundamental investments at Allspring Global Investments, discusses how the strong start to 2023 impacted the firm's mid-year outlook, which is looking ahead and seeing broader participation and strong times for small-cap stocks ahead. In The NAVigator, it's Josh Duitz of the Aberdeen Global Infrastructure Income Fund, explains why the timing is good for infrastructure investing but notes that the public companies in the sector are a particularly good value right now. In the Market Call, Bernie Horn of the Polaris Global Value fund talks stocks.

Long-time bond fund manager Dan Fuss, vice chairman at Loomis Sayles and Co., says that the current economic environment 'rhymes with what we had in the 1970s, but the geopolitics and the climate are new things, and they are actually more important right now than what the Fed is up to.' Fuss says he does not expect short-term interest rates to start trending downward quickly, noting that he expects the yield curve to flatten but not to return to its normal slope soon. Also on the show, Tom Lydon, vice chairman at VettaFi, turns to regional banking -- a sector that has been troubled and which may not be through those rough times this week -- for his ETF of the Week, and author Michael Robbins discusses the impact artificial intelligence is having on investment thinking as he discusses his book 'Quantitative Asset Management: Factor Investing and Machine Learning for Institutional Investing.'

Brian Price, head of investment management at Commonwealth Financial Network, says it's hard to make a case for risk assets like stocks to move much in either direction and the mixed signals extend to the economy, which he believes will avoid the extreme moves in either direction. As a result, he discounts the potential for an economic hard landing -- despite expecting below-average economic growth -- despite expecting lackluster performance as current conditions play out into next year. Similar sentiments were expressed by Thomas Winmill, manager of the Midas Fund, who notes that gold has been a better hedge for inflation of late than it was at the start of the interest rate-hike cycle, but who notes that the real potential in precious metals moving forward will be more about total return of the asset compared to stocks. Winmill, who also manages Dividend and Income Fund, says he expects a coming downturn to strengthen the many buys he currently sees for investors willing to look past the few stocks that have led the current rally. Also on the show, Jill Gonzalez discusses WalletHub's analysis that a small Federal Reserve rate hike will directly cost Americans billions of dollars in extra interest charges, Lester Jones talks the latest business conditions survey out this week from the National Association for Business Economics -- which shows surprising optimism among economists -- and Chuck answers a listener's question about investing for income.

Jeffrey Bierman, founder of The QuantGuy.com and chief market technician at TheoTrade.com, says that the market is overheated and overbought, but it very well could rise from here and re-touch record highs before a likely correction ahead. Bierman says technology and leisure are the areas that have made the market frothy and are overdue for a correction of 30 percent or more, and while oil and financials will help the overall market cushion the fall, Bierman believes utilities and pharmaceutical stocks will be areas to outperform while the market goes through 'unavoidable' pain. Brian Payne, chief strategist for private markets and alternatives at BCA Research talks about the wide-ranging opportunities in the private credit markets, and how senior loans and other private credit varieties can goose a portfolio's yield. Plus, forensic accountant Tracy Coenen identifies three common red flags pointing to signs of financial fraud in the latest installment of 'Find Me The Money,' and Eric Boughton, chief analyst at Matisse Capital, talks about closed-end funds, wide discounts and current buying opportunities in the Market Call.