Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Economist William Silber says that when investors have downside protection and the potential for limited losses against big possible gains, it is time to be a gambler and to be a little reckless. Silber whose new book out this week is 'The Power of Nothing to Lose: The Hail Mary Effect in Politics, War, and Business,' discusses the times when gambles and risk-taking make sense, though he notes tha...

John Blank, chief equity strategist and chief economist for Zacks Investment Research, says that valuations are high, but that the Standard and Poor's 500 is buttressed against a downturn by its biggest members -- the famed FAANG stocks plus Microsoft and one or two others -- that have price/earnings ratios of higher than 25, higher than the index p/e of 20. 'We have never had seven companies make...

Technical analyst Adam Grimes, president of Talon Advisors, says that he is generally bullish about the market right now, and that it 'would take a lot' to make him move to the short side and bet against the market. Instead, he anticipates a strong market move to the upside and says investors should be moving money aggressively to take advantage of buying opportunities. Also on the show, Mike Tagg...

Zvi Schreiber, author of 'Money, Going Out of Style: The story of money and the mystery of its demise,' says that people are getting more money than ever but aren't moving it along and pushing it through the economy, opting instead to use money in speculative ways through investing, cryptocurrency and more, all of which has the potential to be economically destabilizing. He explains how dubious us...

Anu Gaggar, global investment strategist for Commonwealth Financial Network, says that bank stocks -- mostly out of favor since the financial crisis of 2008 and hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic -- are showing signs that their strong recent recovery has legs despite the threats posed by potential hikes in inflation and interest rates. Gaggar notes that since the market bottomed in March 2020, b...

Giorgio Caputo, senior fund manager at J.O. Hambro Capital Management, says that investors aren't being paid enough for duration or credit risk in their bond holdings, which is why the firm is leaning more toward equities to generate income and protect against the possibility of rising rates. Caputo says the equity allocation needs both companies that play defense against the current economic cycl...

David Trainer, president and founder of New Constructs, put Pinterest and Zendesk back in the 'Danger Zone,' noting that recent earnings misses for the companies could be what triggers the decline he has been expecting. Trainer says Pinterest has a downside of more than 50 percent, and that Zendesk is even worse at over 80 percent, though he notes the companies have survived previous troubles to r...

Rick Schmidt, portfolio manager for Harding Loevner, says that investors may have a lot of macro worries -- from rising inflation and interest rates to coronavirus, the economy and more --  but he describes the big picture as being like the weather: 'We don't think we can predict it beyond a couple of days, but it's not silly to look out the window before you go outside. If it's raining, put up an...

Markus Schomer, chief economist at Pinebridge Investments, says in the Big Interview that worries over rising inflation and interest rates are significantly overblown, noting that the shortages behind price hikes should mostly be resolved by the year's end, and adding that there are no rate hikes in the Federal Reserves 'foreseeable future,' because the central bankers can't achieve their jobs/emp...

Ed Carson, news editor at Investor's Business Daily, says the latest IBD/TIPP Economic Optimism Index -- which overall was down again in the facing of concerns about rising inflation -- highlights the difference between investors and non-investors. He noted that the confidence measure showed a record 'optimism gap,' a difference of more than 15 percentage points between the number of positive inve...

Josef Schuster, president of IPOX Schuster -- a firm that tracks and evaluates initial public offerings -- says that the hot names like Robinhood that have been making headlines in IPOs have been the lesser opportunities right now, noting that lesser-known small- and mid-cap new companies have a greater probability of upside and are a better value. Schuster talks about the current IPO market, but...

Adam Abbas, portfolio manager and the co-head of fixed income for the Oakmark Funds, says that investors are seeing -- and must react to -- different types of inflation, starting with the quantifiable shortages creating 'bottleneck inflation' that is transitory, then 'easy money inflation' created by central bank policies and unprecedented economic stimulus, and that investors will still find fixe...

Zach Jonson, chief investment officer at Stack Financial Management, says that the market is reaching all-time highs with 'weaker and weaker breadth and more narrow selectivity,' and that this dichotomy indicates that the risk of a correction is rising. Jonson says that investors who are significantly overweight in equities due to the market's hot run over the last year might want to pull back now...

Lindsey Bell, chief investment strategist at Ally Invest, says that while the market has seen great numbers thus far this year, there is room to go higher -- potentially by double digits -- once the market has clarity on how the Federal Reserve will respond to inflationary pressures. Bell notes that there will be 'rockier days ahead,' but she is optimistic not only for the rest of 2021 but for nex...

Veteran market observer Marc Chaikin, the founder of Chaikin Analytics, says that the market has been consistently making higher highs and higher lows since November of 2020, and that upward grind is likely to continue for at rest of the year -- Chaikin thinks the market will gain another 10 percent by year's end -- so investors who are worrying about problems and second-guessing the market's move...

Robert Frick, corporate economist at Navy Federal Credit Union, says that nervous investors are worried about numbers that are much more solid than they appear in headlines. Frick notes that retail sales, for example, could come down 5 percent from current levels and they'd still be booming. He sees strong economic growth even as the headline numbers start to reflect the movement from recovery mod...

David Trainer, president and founder of New Constructs puts technology giants Amazon, Alphabet and PayPal in the Danger Zone this week, noting that the companies are among the companies in the Standard and Poor's 500 that are most likely to miss earnings estimates for the upcoming reporting season, thanks to investments in other companies that ultimately distort their financial picture. Also on th...

Katie Stockton, founder and managing director at Fairlead Strategies, says that the market's recent volatility has changed investor sentiment but that mood change actually is creating buying opportunities. Stockton says she does not see much pressure for a correction in the market now, in spite of the market's nervousness; she notes that much of the downside nervousness is around mega-cap stocks,...

Ken McAtamney, manager of the William Blair International Leaders Fund, says that an 'underinvestment in [capital expenditures] around the world' has created a void that is now being filled around the world. He noted that beyond physical infrastructure in the United States and Europe, there will be expansive spending on data and digital infrastructure around the globe that will carry the recovery...

Stock market volatility is up as the markets try to sort out whether inflationary increases are permanent and when the Federal Reserve will decide it's time to raise interest rates, and that backdrop -- coupled with renewed fears of how Covid-19 could impact the business world -- should make volatility the norm for at least the remainder of the year, according to JJ Kinahan, chief market strategis...

Jim Paulsen,  chief investment strategist for Leuthold Weeden Capital Management, says that inflation is the big risk facing the market, but he downplays the potential for inflation to last once supply-chain issues and demand levels normalize post-pandemic. Meanwhile, he makes the case that the stock market could rise from now through the end of the year and still enter 2022 relatively cheap, with...

Scott Colyer, chief executive officer at Advisors Asset Management, says that for all the talk that the Federal Reserve has started talking about hiking interest rates, he doesn't see it happening until 2022 or beyond, and that means that investors don't have to change strategies now to stay in line with the central; bank. He expects returns for the rest of the year to loosely resemble what happen...

Greg Valliere, chief U.S. policy strategist at AGF Investments, says that the Federal Reserve wants the economy to run hot and is likely to let things keep rolling longer before raising rates to potentially put the brakes on. That, he says, will be well down the line, as he expects a good economy -- though not necessarily great -- for the next few quarters. He notes that a key factor will be monet...

Brent Schutte, chief investment strategist for Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management, says that while worries about rising inflation and interest rates have some market observers talking about the potential for recession, he believes they're ahead of the economy right now. Schutte says the economic cycle still has room to roll -- and that the market will pick up as fears of  long-term inflation in...

Zachary Karabell, president of River Twice Capital, says that short-term bottlenecks and supply-chain issues are not systemic inflation, and  while he foresees inflationary spikes, he does not believe that long-term upward price pressure is about to change the broad economic picture. In a wide-ranging Big Interview, he notes that the global economy could see a series of rolling recoveries, leading...