Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Whitney Tilson , editor at Stansberry Research , says that while there are reasons to be nervous, the market remains near record-high levels and is not showing signs that it is over-inflated and ready to burst. Tilson notes that fundamentals are strong and the U.S. has the best-performing economy in the world, so investors have correctly priced stocks at rich levels; while that makes it harder for...

Tim Urbanowicz, chief investment strategist for the Innovator ETFs , says that the stock market can keep running for as long as investor sentiment remains strong, but he notes that those emotions have been at such high level that there's not much room for a setback — which could be caused by tariffs, inflation and more — without cratering the market. As a result, he thinks investors need to take a...

Zach Jonson, senior portfolio manager at Stack Financial Management , says current valuations "really only fall in line with 1929 and 1999, so we see substantial downside risk" to the Standard & Poor's 500, but investors can avoid "historic ber market losses" in the mega-cap stocks that have lead the market for the last two years by rotating toward the value and lagging plays. He recommends equal-...

Economist Howard Yaruss , a professor at New York University and the author of "Understandable Economics," talks about how tariffs work and why increasing the levies now could lead to stagflation — higher prices with a worse economy — depending on how consumers and the Federal Reserve react. Yaruss isn't predicting recession yet, but he does see the economy becoming more sluggish as businesses dea...

Lauren Saidel-Baker, economist at ITR Economics , says the "green shoots have been forming" among leading economic indicators, showing that growth is ahead for the economy, along with a normalization as the last ripples of the Covid-19 economy are finally playing out. She expects the Federal Reserve to struggle or fail in its efforts to hit a 2 percent inflation target and thinks consumers should...

Thomas Winmill, manager of the Midas Fund , discusses how uncertainties over tariffs, trade wars and geo-politics have help boost gold prices by more than 40 percent in the last year — and mining-company stocks by even more — and yet the current level of concern is going to help precious metals go even higher from here. He explains why the higher prices are a particular boon for the miners, making...

Charles Piller, author of "Doctored: Fraud, Arrogance and Tragedy in the Quest to Cure Alzheimers," discusses how research into one of the world's most devastating health scourges has been held back by the egos and profit motives of some of the leading researchers, and what they have done to keep their research in the spotlight even as more science shows that it might be leading to the wrong concl...

Craig Callahan, chief executive officer at ICON Advisers , says the stock market is trading near its fair value, but that it has enough earnings momentum to push out an average year of gains — something in the range of 9 to 11 percent — and that it could do better if profits come in above expectation levels. He does anticipate more volatility, but figures the underlying value of stocks — especiall...

Emily Roland, co-chief investment strategist at John Hancock Investment Management , says "the soft landing narrative right now is alive and well," but she is watching initial jobless claims and and high-yield bond spreads, both of which have been at levels showing continued economic strength and which aren't signalling any change in that trend. She does say that investors should temper expectatio...

The show — like the stock market and economy — moves in a lot of directions today, with Ron Sanchez, chief investment officer at Fiduciary Trust Company International , saying that there's a "high degree of clarity around the economy," — a level of sustainability and durability that he thinks will last at least through 2026 —  balanced out by a host of policy and regime changes ahead that could im...

Nanette Abuhoff Jacobson, global investments strategist for the Hartford Funds , is expecting a positive year for 2025, with a broadening market and solid earnings growth driving it forward, but she expects the drive to a third consecutive year of double-digit gains to be more volatile. That volatility represents an opportunity, she said, because fantastic companies become cheap when the markets g...

Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist for Janney Montgomery Scott , says that "the U.S. economy seems to be in pretty good shape," noting that there's a healthy amount of momentum — built on the strength of the labor market — that is creating solid underpinnings to will keep the economy and the stock market in a good place at least through 2025. Luschini thinks that earnings expectations — wh...

Steven Dover, chief market strategist for Franklin Templeton — the head of the Franklin Templeton Investment Institute — called the DeepSeek news that roiled the market over the weekend and into Monday "a Sputnik moment," comparing it to when the Russians stepped up the space race and the rest of the world responded. "If it's true that something is coming out that is much cheaper and easier for co...

Brad McMillan, chief investment officer for Commonwealth Financial Network , says that  investors are nervous and have plenty of worries, but that there is a disconnect between those negative thoughts and what's actually going wrong because conditions continue to look good and be mostly unaffected by the worst things investors are scared of. That's a big reason why McMillan is optimistic now, noti...

Barry Ritholtz , chairman and chief investment officer at Ritholtz Wealth Management , says that investors love a good story, but they tend to put too much stock in them and right now they are looking at a lot of things that either "can't" happen or "must" happen after two big-gain years for the market and they're making misguided decisions. He notes that the economy is likely to continue to avoid...

Jennifer Martin, vice president of global equities for T. Rowe Price , says that artificial intelligence is creating "contestable markets," which means that "Every company has to keep spending." That creates an economic imperative -- regardless of economic and market conditions -- that should help the stock market power through adjustments to the new administration's policies and concerning econom...

Scott Ladner, chief investment officer at Horizon Investments , says that the stock market will need earnings growth to generate returns in 2025, but that those gains should run roughly equal to the level of earnings growth, leaving the market set up for low double-digit gains in 2025. He says that technology continues to provide a tailwind to the market, though henotes that the artificial intelli...

Bryce Doty, senior portfolio manager at Sit Investment Associates says that "the elephant in the room" for the economy is the growing federal debt, now up to $36 trillion, which puts the Federal Reserve "in a pickle," because the debt will continue exploding if interest rates don't fall, but inflation could get out of control if the central bank cuts rates too fast. Doty sees an economy that will...

Daniel McCormack, head of research for Macquarie Asset Management , says that heightened volatility in 2025 should make investors want to stay nimble and flexible, but he expects reasonable growth and a healthy environment. Sharing his outlook for 2025 , McCormack says he expects China to begin "exporting inflation again," which could the U.S. back above a 3 percent inflation rate, which might slo...

Bob Elliott, chief investment officer for the Unlimited Funds , says investors entered 2025 with "euphoric expectations," but at a time when the market was going through a tightening, which is a set-up for the market to be flat or down for a few months. He says investors should curb their enthusiasm if they expect the market to perform as well as it has in the last two years, though he makes it cl...

Ryan Detrick, chief market strategist for the Carson Group , says growing earnings and profit margins are creating a dual tailwind for the stock market, and while he cites plenty of reasons for concern — including the potential for a double-digit market decline in the first half of 2025 — he's "not scared that the bull market is over." In both his 2025 outlook — released Tuesday — and in today's B...

Scott Helfstein, head of investment strategy for Global X ETFs says "Investors had better be ready for some chop" in 2024, but he thinks fundamentals are good and expanding and the market will broaden so that the economy and market pick up in areas that have not done well of late. Those conditions may create a volatile market but should help fight off a slowing pace of interest rate cuts. Helfstei...

Dec Mullarkey, head of investment strategy at SLC Investments , says that when there is a lot of uncertainty and geopolitical risk, the United States economy and markets benefit from the situation, even if the unrest is partially caused by the U.S. As a result, while many observers worry about what might change under the new Trump Administration, Mullarkey expects economic stability, noting that "...

Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab & Co. , says that while the stock market has done well at the index level — where a few big names carried the benchmarks to big years — the fuller story has been told at a lower level, where the market has had more struggles and there have been rolling recessions in various areas of the economy without triggering a full-blown, broad-ba...

Rob Arnott, chairman and founder of Research Affiliates , says that current markets resemble the dot-com markets in the narrative that everything is about to change   due to technological advancements, but he notes that the dominant tech players from the year 2000 failed to beat the Standard & Poor's 500 index over the long-term future. He says that could happen again today with the artificial int...