Axel Merk, founder and president at Merk Investments and the Merk Funds, says he is currently underweight equities because of concerns of everything that could go wrong in the short run. He's watching interest rates, inflation, the pandemic, international and domestic politics and more and while he says long-term investors can rideo ut these concerns, anyone who needs to access their money in the next two years should be concerned. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of ETFTrends.com makes a fund puttin...
Jan 13, 2022•1 hr 1 min
Crit Thomas, global market strategist, Touchstone Investments says that the 'tsunami of liquidity' that was pushed into the economy throughout the pandemic is going to recede in 2022 , and the effects of money being pulled from the economy by the Federal Reserve and the government is enough to make him 'risk neutral' at least until factors like the pandemic, interest rates and inflation play out and reduce uncertainty. Also on the show, Ed Carson, news editor at Investor's Business Daily, discus...
Jan 12, 2022•1 hr
Wall Street veteran Bob Doll, chief investment officer at Crossmark Global Investments, has long made annual forecasts for the key financial elements of the year ahead. But coming off the global pandemic and the way it skewed economic numbers, Doll's crystal ball was murkier a year ago, and it was reflected in him hitting on fewer of his predictions. We review what happened with him, and then turn our attention to the coming 12 months, which Doll says are still hard to forecast because of the un...
Jan 11, 2022•52 min
Lindsey Bell, chief markets and money strategist at Ally Invest, says that the market is capable of generating double-digit returns for the third consecutive year despite concerns about inflation, rising interest rates and more. Bell says that what is likely to determine the market's ability to actually deliver is the actions of the Federal Reserve, which may not comfort listeners after hearing today's Book Interview, in which author Christopher Leonard, discusses his new book, 'The Lords of Eas...
Jan 10, 2022•1 hr
Tom McClellan, editor of the The McClellan Market Report, says that it's time for investors to 'change out of your tennis shoes and put on your track shoes' to deal with a market that is going to chop sideways this year, and turn 'horrible' next year. McClellan has told his subscribers to be out of the market now, as he expects a downturn over the first few months of 2022. The NAVigator segment features Robert Grunewald, chief executive officer at Flat Rock Global discussing how the interval-fun...
Jan 07, 2022•1 hr
Marty Bergin, president, Dunn Capital Management says that the absolute return on bonds is going to be negative during the coming inflationary environment, which will be scary for retirees who will lose purchasing power as they struggle with generating any real returns from fixed income. Bergin discusses inflation in terms of 'price discovery' -- the situation being caused currently by supply chain issues -- but also as a 'monetary phenomenon' resulting from the actions of central bankers, and n...
Jan 06, 2022•59 min
Noland Langford, chief executive officer at Left Brain Investment Research, says that changing economic conditions are forcing investors to re-evaluate growth, putting heightened focus on issues with longer-term growth, and backing away from some of the momentum-driven winners from 2021. Also on the show, Chuck talks about a uniquely different alternative investment -- comic books -- for the first time in Money Life history, visiting with Andrew Davis, The Comic Book Investor; Mark Hamrick of Ba...
Jan 05, 2022•1 hr 1 min
Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at BankRate.com, says consumers need to start game-planning for a higher interest-rate environment now because the few increases that are expected for this year are just a start in what he expects to be a multi-year rate-hike cycle. He gives his outlook on everything from mortgage rates to auto loans, and how consumers should be considering what to do and when in each case. Then, Christine Benz, director of personal finance and retirement planning for Mornin...
Jan 04, 2022•59 min
Ken Berman, chief investment strategist at Gorilla Trades says that the Standard & Poor's 500 will 'easily hit 5,000 this year,' with the Dow Jones Industrial Average comfortably crossing 40,000, but while he expects those modest gains on the indexes, he says it will be a year when stock-picking is at a premium because so few issues are trading at highs. Berman expects the market to reach those records soon, but worries that they won't hold it, noting that two-thirds of available stocks are ...
Jan 03, 2022•1 hr
Tom Lydon, chief executive officer at ETFTrends.com, says that the year ahead will be more challenging for fixed-income investors who have been saddled with low yields for years but who at least could count on safety from their long-term bond holdings. With the outlook for the economy changing and with inflation hitting hard right now and lingering longer than most expected through the recovery from the pandemic, Lydon made the iShares TIPS Bond fund his 'ETF of the Week,' noting that inflation-...
Dec 30, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Jonathan Lansner, columnist at the Orange County Register, says that many of today's common economic tropes -- covering themes like inflation, the global supply-chain crisis, interest rates and more -- are defying logic, and he brings his logic to the show to help reframe the discussions and douse the flames of rhetoric. Another one of Chuck's journalist friends -- Rob Weisman of the Boston Globe -- also joins him on the show today, discussing the intersection of Baby Boomers, COVID and the grea...
Dec 29, 2021•1 hr 3 min
Market technician Jeffrey Bierman, founder of TheQuantGuy.com, sees the stock market as being vulnerable to a big step back mid-way through the first quarter of 2022, noting that the market will be in a happy place and comfort zone as long as the Standard and Poor's 500 stays above 4,275; if the market falls below that level, Bierman says the pain could get close to 20 percent before things bottom out. Also on the show, Joseph Biondo of Biondo Investment Advisors gives a more optimistic -- but s...
Dec 28, 2021•59 min
Jamie Hopkins, managing partner for wealth solutions at Carson Group, says that investors who focus mostly on what to buy or own in an investment portfolio are asking the wrong question, because they need to be focused on where they are and where they want to go. Hopkins says it is particularly important to focus inward as we enter 2022 because the year is likely to feature more volatility and less profit potential than 2021 has. Also on the show, Greg McBride of Bankrate.com discusses the site'...
Dec 27, 2021•59 min
John Cole Scott of Closed-End Fund Advisors and the Active Investment Company Alliance discusses the high number of closed-end funds that are currently trading at premiums, and the rebound that has represented in performance over 2021, as he reviews the year in closed-end fund investing. Also on the show, Tom Lydon of ETFTrends.com selects a fund meant to hedge against interest-rate risk his ETF of the Week, Meredith Stoddard of Fidelity Investments discusses the firm's annual survey of New Year...
Dec 23, 2021•1 hr
Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist for Invesco, says that the market is likely to take a pause to get past the Omicron surge in the Covid-19 pandemic, but that after the market adjusts to the latest wave and handles changes in interest-rate policies from the Federal Reserve, stocks will rebound and continue moving forward in 2022. Brian Dress of Left Brain Investment Research discusses how he's changing portfolios in response to a growth outlook that has been affected by rising infl...
Dec 22, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Mark Newton, global head of technical strategy for Fundstrat Global Advisors, says he expects the market to sell off by about 20 percent from March through July of next year, before rallying back to finish flat or up slightly in 2022. Newton says that the tech sector's strength is what is largely staving off a down year, but it won't make the ride particularly smooth, as he is expecting heightened volatility. Also on the show, Chuck talks about setting goals -- and how New Year's target setting ...
Dec 21, 2021•1 hr
Darrell Cronk, chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Wealth and Investment Management, says that investors are wondering whether to add risk exposure to portfolios or remove it given a range of worrisome trends like inflation, interest rates, unemployment and much more, yet he expects the economy and stock market to do better than most observers are forecasting for 2022, because the economy is humming along at a pace that should stave off the concerns for a while longer. Also on teh show, Ted...
Dec 20, 2021•1 hr
Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab & Co., says that strong market performance in 2020 and '21 has masked downturns in most sectors and industries, meaning that there isn't so much pressure for upward trends to reverse in the year ahead. While she does see more volatility and changing leadership -- creating a good time for investors to rebalance portfolios -- she thinks that there remains room for market growth ahead. Also on the show, Nathan Briggs of Ropes and Gr...
Dec 17, 2021•56 min
Two different market observers -- Patrick O'Hare, chief market analyst at Briefing.cmo and Andy Kapyrin, co-chief investment officer at RegentAtlantic -- say that while the Federal Reserve telegraphed its strategy for tapering bond purchases and raising interest rates, how it follows through will determine just how volatile and troublesome the stock market will be in 2022. Both say they expect more volatility and lower returns, but they note that if the Fed must get more aggressive with rate inc...
Dec 16, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Steve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, says investors should expect market conditions to be more uncomfortable next year than they have been in 2021, calling for a return to volatility that will include air pockets that can drop the market suddenly, and for more than a few days. That said, Sosnick does not expect the current news cycle from the Federal Reserve to dramatically change the market for the remainder of this year. Also on the show, Ted Rossman from Bankrate.com discus...
Dec 15, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Jason Browne of Alexis Investment Partners talks in the Market Call about the importance of changing asset allocations to overcome the low-yield environment, and maintaining the delicate balance between wanting to own funds that are the best in their category against the danger of moving in and out of funds too rapidly, Jill Gonzalez of WalletHub.com discusses the site's recent survey showing that consumers don't fully understand how deferred-interest programs work -- leading them to fall into c...
Dec 14, 2021•1 hr
Rodney Brooks, personal finance columnist at U.S. News and World Report -- author of "Fixing the Racial Wealth Gap" -- says that for all of the causes behind racial and ethnic wealth divides in America, the biggest, best solution is not government programs but basic financial education, literacy combined with opportunities so that, in time, minorities will not hold a nickel's worth of generational wealth compared to every dollar held by white people. Also on the show, Charles Rotblut, editor of ...
Dec 13, 2021•1 hr
Doug Ramsey, chief investment officer at The Leuthold Group, says that stock market valuations are at levels last seen at the peak of the Internet bubble, but that the number of stocks trading at highs is broader than it was back then. With that in mind, he expects a "return towards sobriety' for the market ahead, with high-priced growth and technology stocks likely to get market down significantly in 2022, while financials, energy and traditional value stocks have much better prospects ahead. A...
Dec 10, 2021•1 hr
Alan McKnight, chief investment officer at Regions Asset Management, says that with cash generating nothing, bond yields being paltry and interest rates and inflation on the rise, "it's not an easy market for allocators." McKnight says that his response for about the last six months -- despite heightened volatility and prospects for slower growth -- has been to overweight equities, tilted heavily towards domestic stocks, though he also sees developed international looking like more of an opportu...
Dec 09, 2021•59 min
Neil Hennessy, president of Hennessy Advisors and the Hennessy Funds, says that despite legitimate worries over inflation, interest rates, the continuing pandemic and more, the economic underpinnings and stock market fundamentals are so strong that he believes the current rally has legs that will last well into 2022. He does expect pullbacks and corrections ahead, "but it's not going to be the end of the bull market." Also on the show, Freddy Garcia, of Left Brain Wealth Management discusses yea...
Dec 08, 2021•59 min
John Waggoner, financial editor at AARP.org, says that the return of volatility has investors on the edge, expecting a downturn that feels overdue, but he notes that economic conditions and the market are strong enough that people should just calm down, look at diversifying and keep on plowing ahead. Waggoner also gives his take on crypto investing, emerging markets and much more in a wide-ranging Big Interview. Also on the show, Yelena Shulyatyeva, senior U.S. economist at Bloomberg Economics d...
Dec 07, 2021•1 hr
Alan Gayle, president of Via Nova Investment Management, says that the economy has such rock-solid fundamentals that periods of volatility and downturn remain opportunitie4s to jump in and expand your investment positions. That could change if the latest Covid variant takes off, if the Federal Reserve 'panics and raises interest rates' too soon or too far and more, but until or unless that happens, Gayle notes that he doesn't know anyone forecasting a recession next year, meaning 'the ground for...
Dec 06, 2021•58 min
John Kosar, chief market strategist at Asbury Research, says investors who have been conditioned to buy every stock market decline may want to be patient with current volatility, because the market hasn't busted through support levels. He worries that investors could sell now, only to have support hold up so that investors actually are getting out at the bottom 'and two weeks later they'll be pulling their hair out.' Kosar says the current decline should not be sold until the market moves dives ...
Dec 03, 2021•1 hr 1 min
Bill Stone, chief investment officer at Glenview Trust, says that investors' only real chance to outrun inflation in these markets is with risk assets like stocks, though he says that investors are going to want to tilt to companies with pricing power to withstand inflation. Stone says that investors will still want to keep an allocation to bonds as a safe haven to help them through short-term volatility, but he says investors needing income must be aware of interest-rate and inflation risks eve...
Dec 02, 2021•59 min
Rob Sharps, president and chief investment officer at T. Rowe Price, says that the stock market has mostly taken in stride and priced in the Federal Reserve reducing its bond purchases and raising interest rates sooner than had previously been expected, and that it can weather the inflation/rate-hike storm without a major bear market. Sharps worries that the economy will have to stand more on its own -- with the end of Covid stimulus packages -- to keep things moving, so he does expect some slow...
Dec 01, 2021•1 hr
