Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Epizódok

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  Trustage's Rick: Economy is poised to continue modest growth through '27 06.10.2026 58p

  Steve Rick, chief economist at TruStage, is forecasting slightly faster economic growth for 2027 — 2.2% real GDP growth compared to about 2% this year —  "so nothing great ... good, but nothing to write home about." That should be enough to keep the economy moving forward, and Rick cautions against reading too much into some negative numbers, noting that unemployment levels reflect the classic level for full employment, and that slow job growth is appropriate given workforce trends in the United States. Rick does worry how a stretched consumer could curtail spending to increase savings, which would slow the economy; if that is coupled with a stock market suffering a sell-off due to high valuations and A.I.-related tensions, that could end the bull market and economic expansion in one disappointing turn. In the Money Life Market Call, Wasif Latif, president and chief investment officer at Sarmaya Partners — which manages the Sarmaya Thematic ETF — discusses what he sees as an ongoing commodities "super cycle" and how that has him leaning into gold, but also oil and other physical commodities, all the while largely avoiding a lot of the technology sector and getting his artificial-intelligence exposure from A.I.-adjacent plays like energy companies. Plus, Chuck answers a question from a listener who is eligible for Social Security but hasn't taken it yet, and who is nervous about getting their money but hearing from a financial adviser that they should wait until age 70 to start collecting. Chuck's suggestion for what the listener should do goes against conventional wisdom — and is different from what he says he and Gail will do when it comes to collecting Social Security — but that's because there's no right or wrong in the decision, only what is right for each individual who has to make the choice.
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  New Constructs' Trainer calls Anthropic is 'the most ridiculous IPO os 2026' 05.10.2026 1ó 2p

  David Trainer, founder and president at New Constructs, put a pre-IPO Anthropic in The Danger Zone today, saying the $2 trillion valuation is "absolutely absurd" for a business that is burning tons of cash, facing vicious competition and "with no conceivable profit margin ... when it's being valued as if it will have profits bigger than the most profitable companies in the world today." He says Wall Street is using Anthropic's IPO as "exit liquidity" to cash out on the money they've invested privately in the company, but the deal is shifting the bag and pushing the trouble down the road, making it "an absolute rip-off for public investors." Trainer last used the "most ridiculous IPO" tag in 2019, on WeWork, where his research helped to scrap the launch; the company dropped its value, went public raising much less money through an acquisition and, ultimately, went to zero. Trainer says Anthropic's lack of earnings could be just as problematic.  In "The Week That Is," Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, addresses Micron Technologies stock, which Wall Street has been wavering on despite its  latest quarterly earnings showing year-over-year growth of 1,000 percent (yes, that's real). With skepticism driving Micron's price/earnings ratio below 15 — more than 40 percent lower than the p/e for the S&P 500 — Marolia uses his firm's five-lens approach to break down why he thinks the market is making the wrong call on one of its true stars. Marolia also digs into the job numbers and warns about reading falling jobs numbers and rising unemployment as a sign of recession when the economy is still growing and the unemployment rate has not climbed out of a level that traditionally has represented "full employment." Plus, he discusses the pluses and minuses of a recent SEC proposal that would let mutual funds charge performance fees, bringing more types of investments to the general public, but with a new level/structure for fees. In the Market Call, David Rosenstrock, director of investments and financial planning at Wharton Wealth Planning, talks about exchange-traded funds and putting them together in portfolios, noting that "the biggest risk [to investors] isn't the economy or market risk or inflationary risk, the biggest risk is that the portfolio is not properly aligned with the owner's goals and needs."
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  3Edge's Cucchiaro says buy-and-hold won't work in the next correction 02.10.2026 1ó 3p

  Steve Cucchiaro, chief executive and chief investment officer at 3Edge Asset Management, says that the market is masking potential troubles, flirting with record highs despite having "more than 85% of the S&P 500 companies in bear markets." As a result, he says investors need to b e prepared to get defensive, riding with the "short-term factors that are propelling the market higher" without losing sight of long-term factors that are likely to slow the market. Cucchiaro says that the price-to-sales ratio today is at an all-time high by a wide margin; while this doesn't say when a correction or crash is coming, it does suggest that when a correction comes "the amount that we are at risk is very severe." He says, as a result, long-term buy-and-hold will be very uncomfortable for investors who try to ride it out without getting defensive. Anthropic's initial public offering could value the company at over $2 trillion, so John Cole Scott, president of CEF Advisors, looks at how investors can buy pre-IPO stakes using closed-end funds, interval funds and ETFs that work in the private markets, and says that getting exposure to Anthropic and other popular IPOs isn't the hard part, paying for the right wrapper is. Scott evaluates several funds of different structures to show what investors are buying, what they're paying per dollar of private exposure and why they need an exit strategy before they get in. He also discusses which fund and structure he would use for clients, and why some investors with different goals might make another choice. In the Market Call, Jeff Auxier president of Auxier Asset Management and manager of the Auxier Focus Fund, talks value investing and says "the shopping list is growing," though he is expecting and hoping for "rougher, better times" and at least a modest downturn to make more stocks attractive. Auxier notes that in times when he foresees some trouble, he's looking for stocks with earnings "strong enough to be tennis balls" – bouncing through downturns – rather than "chicken eggs," which fall and splat.
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  Trillium's Smith sees a comeuppance for the market, economy, likely in '27 01.10.2026 55p

  Cheryl Smith, economist at Trillium Asset Management, says she is seeing "more economic warning signs," and worries that one of them — interest rates going up, but much later than might have been anticipated based on headlines — could be setting up a compressed timeline for increases, with the rapidity of the move creating more problems than would have surfaced in a slower uptrend. On the stock market, Smith says the rising interest rates will have an impact that, coupled with slower earnings and turns in the artificial-intelligence market make it that "You will see a considerably more difficult path for equities in 2027." In the Market Call, Eric Marshall, president of Hodges Capital Management and co-portfolio manager on three of the Hodges Funds, talks about bottoms-up stock-picking and the small-cap market . Plus, Stan Haithcock — best known as "Stan the Annuity Man" — returns to the show to answer questions, including one from a listener who is nervous about the stock market and looking to take some money out without losing the income stream that those dividends have been delivering.    
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  LPL's Kerr: The longer oils prices stay high, the less the market can ignore it 30.09.2026 1ó

  Kristian Kerr, head of macro strategy at LPL Financial, says that the market has shaken off the impact of higher oil prices, leading investors to a sense of complacency, where they think only a much higher spike in crude prices will upset the economy. He feels, however, that "the longer we are at these levels the harder it becomes to ignore," noting that the same kind of thinking can also be applied to rising bond yields, where the market is deciding just how real the fears are, but where they can't ignore the issue indefinitely. Kerr isn't calling for a major market reversal, but more for caution and diversification, because he believes that at some point many of the fears over headline risks will be realized. Author Daniel Goldie discusses his new book, out today, "The Retirement Answer: The 6 Key Decisions Every Retiree Needs to Make," which covers timing, Social Security , Medicare, distribution strategies, investments and legacy choices In the Market Call, Aniket Ullal, head of ETF data and analytics at CFRA, discusses exchange-traded funds, which sectors appear to be in favor now, the difficulties in evaluating newfangled funds with options overlays or leveraged, single-stock strategies and more.
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  Asbury Research's Kosar: This 'great market' is built on 'tenuous' footing 29.09.2026 1ó

  John Kosar, chief market strategist at Asbury Research, says this is "one of the oddest markets" he's seen, with stocks nearly at record highs, two-decade highs in the yield of long-term Treasury bonds, a war, tariffs, oil priced at over $100 per barrel, and yet less stocks are making fresh highs and the Magnificent Seven stocks are carrying the load for the entire market. If the "big gorilla stocks" falter — which Kosar says is likely at some point — the market could topple like a Jenga tower. Kosar isn't out of stocks yet, but he's watching volatility and more, prepping to play defense soon. Josh Wein, portfolio manager at the Hennessy Funds, says that oil prices -- rather than Federal Reserve rate hikes — are "the big wildcard for the market" right now, noting that he expects the market to easily absorb the first two increases, and maybe more. One reason for that, Wein says, is that it's now earnings — rather than the Fed -- that are driving the market and investor sentiment. Wein, who manages 10 funds at Hennessy, says he expects a small rally as third-quarter earnings come out, getting better into the end of the year. Jeff Muhlenkamp, portfolio manager for the Muhlenkamp Fund, explains in the Market Call why his fund is holding a larger allocation to gold and gold miners than ever before in its long history, discusses valuation concerns around earnings and talks about why the "hold" decision is as important as the buys and sells.
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  New Constructs' Trainer makes it official: This is an A.I. bubble 28.09.2026 59p

  David Trainer, founder and president at New Constructs has been cautious about artificial-intelligence stocks for a long time, noting that few of them pass his firm's rigorous evaluation criteria to be "attractive" investments, but he now says that liquidity concerns for the big-name A.I. players have him convinced that the market is in an A.I. bubble. That doesn't mean a crash is imminent — he notes that "Bubbles can go on for a long time" — but he says that once liquidity dries up, trouble will come quickly. Trainer says recent signs of shrinking liquidity include: delayed IPOs, "skyrocketing borrowing costs," a rapid rise in the cost of default credit swaps (which protect investors against default), " and a "risk-free rate" that's saying it's way more expensive to borrow. It adds up to a building problem that he says is closer to the edge, but is largely ignored in the other, more popular conversations about what's potentially wrong with A.I. Joanne Bianco, senior investment strategist at BondBloxx, says that the surge in Treasury yields to levels not seen in decades "is beyond most people's expectations," but she says higher rates haven't been scary yet because strong economic conditions have kept the market stable. That will persist for at least one more rate hike by the Federal Reserve — which the market already seems to be pricing in — but how she says it is less clear how the market will respond if there are more hikes down the line. She discusses the parts of the yield curve and risk spectrum she finds most attractive right now, given the rate picture, inflation and more. And — in an interview that goes in directions opposite to the others — Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, says he's not buying A.I. panic stories, noting that he believes they are mostly about the industry's powerbrokers trying to create "regulatory capture," using rules where the real purpose is to protect their current competitive advantages. He also discusses the sudden rise in bond yields and the potential risk that poses to bond fund investors, suggesting they'd be better off holding bonds directly, planning to capture the yield to maturity, and using a laddered approach so that higher-rate paper is routinely being added to the portfolio as rates climb. Plus, Vijay talks about the rise in 401(k) millionaires, and how it's more a phenomenon of market growth and inflation than a meaningful milestone, noting that savers should focus on their needs and whether their plan and savings level will get them to a level of sufficiency.
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  Invesco's Levitt: 'The onus is on the bears' to prove there's trouble ahead 25.09.2026 56p

  Brian Levitt, chief global market strategist at Invesco, says investors are watching dual forces at play: a structural growth story in artificial intelligence and a cyclical upswing in the global economy. That has allowed the market to "absorb all of this," from higher oil prices and rising Treasury yields to the first of what will likely be multiple interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve. Levitt discounted most of the worrisome factors investors have been focused on with the market, saying "The onus is on the bears at this point" to show that potential troubles will play out. He doesn't believe that stocks are overvalued or that higher energy prices or borrowing costs will break the artificial-intelligence development cycle, which he thinks remains in its early stages of powering the market higher. In The NAVigator segment, Matt Kence of Aberdeen Investments, discusses  the current state of the high-yield market and how it has been responding to rising interest rates. Kence, the portfolio manager for the Aberdeen Credit Income Strategies fund says fundamentals remain fundamentals remain surprisingly robust, leverage levels overall are moderate and interest coverage remains strong, with defaults in the high-yield space well below long-term averages. Kence also discusses the impact that artificial intelligence is making on the market, noting that A.I.-adjacent industries like power generation feel stable but have narrow spreads, making A.I.-direct companies the better pick for attractive opportunities right now. Plus, Natalie Iannello of Digital Third Coast discusses survey research done for BPG Inspections which found that 44% of Americans have experienced a moving issue or scam. Among the most-common problems encountered during moves: hidden fees or unexpected upcharges, belongings damaged without compensation, and delayed delivery.
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  Afford Anything's Pant: 'You can't eat your 401k balance' 24.09.2026 59p

  Paula Pant, host of the Afford Anything podcast, says there are reasons why Americans feel like they can afford nothing these days, despite a stock market and economy that clearly are representing good times, noting that individuals are stuck in the contrast between rising asset values and stagnant income. "Your 401k balance might be doing really well, but you can't eat that," she says, which creates some level of financial strain. Pant also covers the importance of understanding inflation, setting spending priorities so that you can, indeed, afford anything while recognizing that you can't afford everything. Personal finance expert Jean Chatzky discusses her latest book, "The Forever Paycheck: The New Retirement Strategy to Spend More, Worry Less, and Never Run Out of Money," and how she has come to see that much of conventional financial planning is focused incorrectly on how much someone needs to save rather than centering on how to generate sufficient income to live out their lives comfortably and without compromising on the things they most value. Beyond discussing how to create a lifetime paycheck using bank accounts, bonds and annuities, Jean highlights research showing that people with a structured income feel free to spend more of their money, rather than keeping their life savings tied up out of a fear of running out of money. Plus, Melissa Stephenson discusses survey research done for CGTrader.com, a 3d model marketplace, which showed that rising costs have been impacting home repairs, with more than 60% of homeowners recently delaying repairs due to cost, and the same percentage saying that those higher costs make them more likely to try fixing something on their own rather than hiring an expert. Nearly half of the respondents said they could not comfortably cover a $250 surprise repair out of pocket.
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  Joe Saul-Sehy of Stacking Benjamins on the new norms of personal finance 23.09.2026 1ó

  Joe Saul-Sehy, host of the Stacking Benjamins podcast, visits Money Life to catch Chuck up on the things he missed at FinCon 2026 — held last week in California — but also to discuss how the personal finance world is changing in the face of lingering inflation, rising interest rates, increased influence from artificial intelligence, Robert Kiyosaki's $1.2 billion debt problem and much more. Saul-Sehy also discusses so-called "safe withdrawal rates," and says the "4 percent rule" drives him crazy, because it puts the focus on accumulating wealth rather than "creating a fulfilling life." Author Renee Bryan discusses her book "The Morality of Money: Remove Fear and Discover Financial Freedom Through Simple Economic Principles and Universal Truths," and the intersection of faith and finance. Bryan talks about how economic principles can align with being a good person, and advocates for using moral principles to guide financial decisions, suggesting that a positive mindset can lead to personal prosperity. Plus, Carlo Versano, director of politics and culture at Newsweek, discusses their recently reached American Dream Index, which examines how Americans perceive their ability to achieve success, prosperity, and upward mobility, looking at the issue from perceptions for the whole country down into attitudes in cities and states. The overall scores indicated a struggle across the board and, in fact, no state achieved a score above 70 on a scale of 100. That doesn't mean the American Dream is dead — far from it, according to Versano — but it does mean that people may need to choose different paths and different locations to have the best chance of achieving it in their lives.
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  Schaeffer's Timpane sees a post-election rally carrying into 2027 22.09.2026 1ó 9p

  Matthew Timpane, senior market strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research, says he expects the market to rally once the midterm elections are through, particularly because the third-year of the presidential cycle tends to be the most bullish, most notably the first half of those years. For the short-term — as the market finishes a September in which it has shown none of the usual seasonal signs of distress and rolls into October — Timpane sees a market that could get to roughly 8100 on the Standard & Poor's 500, with downside support at 7500, and growing firmer at 7,250 should some news trigger a slightly bigger sell-off.  David Rubenstein, co-founder of The Carlyle Group and owner of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team, discusses his new book, released today, "Inside the Owner's Box: Conversations on Power and Leadership in Sports." In a wide-ranging interview, Rubenstein also discusses the impact that gambling generally and prediction markets most recently have had on sports, on how measuring success as the owner of a sports team is different than weighing it in the ordinary business world and more. In the Market Call, Elliott Gue, editor at Energy & Income Advisor, discusses how the buildout of artificial intelligence and its seemingly insatiable need for power is impacting energy stocks. Gue, who publishes the Free Market Speculator on Substack, notes that the capital expenditures boom may force energy/income investors to decide if they want to trade some steadiness of income for the hope of a higher total return.
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  Economist Edmans on crazy investors and 'The Madness of Markets' 21.09.2026 59p

  Alex Edmans, author of "The Madness of Markets: Why Smart Investors Make Crazy Decisions - And How to Exploit Them," says that even smart investors sometimes make poor financial decisions, noting that overconfidence, fear, excitement, and the tendency to overreact to market news can cause investors to trade too frequently and buy high/sell low. Edmans says the financial industry is amplifying these mistakes by making trading easier (encouraging activity that generates fees or spreads), and recommends identifying and acknowledging psychological weaknesses and favoring simple strategies such as diversification, long-term investing, and broad-market index funds. He also discusses how seemingly irrelevant emotions -- including reactions to sports results -- can influence investment decisions in ways most of us would never consider as possible.   In "The Week That Is," Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, discusses whether the creation of an "A.I. Force" and appointment of an "A.I. czar" could control and improve the development process or slow it down and set it back. Speaking of setbacks, Marolia also discusses Anthropic's plans for an IPO that could be valued at $2 trillion, and whether the company whose CEO set off a lot of the alarm bells on A.I. should pause its offering until there is more clarity on the future regulation of the industry. Plus, personal finance guru Robert Kiyosaki has had some setbacks and is $1.2 billion in debt; the amount is crazy, but Marolia considers whether the best-selling author behind "Rich Dad, Poor Dad" is crazy like a fox. Kyle Guske, investment analyst at New Constructs, says that one overlooked aspect of the A.I. build-out is that all of the ballyhooed capital expenditures are starting to show up on company books, but they're doing it in places that mostly go unnoticed. Guske says that if the AI companies in the top 25 of the S&P 500 wanted to earn an adequate return on invested capital on their trillions in new AI-related debt, they must generate $1.4 trillion in new profit on top of what they already earn, and says he doesn't think most investors are pricingin that risk. As a result, he put "the most wanted earnings manipulators" in The Danger Zone, and documented how the A.I. buildout is ballooning the balance sheets of some of the world's largest companies.
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  Morningstar research says new ETFs look more like gambles 18.09.2026 58p

  Dan Sotiroff, associate director of passive strategies at Morningstar goes "Off The News" discussing the firm's just-released "State of US ETFs 2026" report, which found that heightened competition is increasingly pushing fund firms to open "complex, narrowly focused strategies that may resemble gambling more than long-term investing. He says that the issues are strange and getting weirder, citing examples of ETFs now tied to everything from election results to hockey scores, and while many of those new funds have not opened to investors yet, they are the logical extension of single-stock funds and other new issues that offer investors new ways to play the market. While Sotiroff notes that there have been sound improvements in a few of the newfangled funds, there are more potential gambles than real investing. Ian Cassel, founder of MicroCapClub, discusses his new book, "Stock Picker: How to Develop the Mindset, Temperament, and Strategy to Outperform Wall Street," and the importance of finding solid fundamentals and profits to select tiny stocks with the potential to beat the odds and grow into big profits and status as a large- or mega-cap company. And in "The NAVigator," Young Choi, portfolio manager for the XAI Floating Rate & Alternative Income Trust, says the explosion in specialty ETFs dedicated to investing in collateralized loan obligations has changed the CLO market, compressing spreads and changing some buying opportunities. In "The NAVigator," Choi also  discusses differences between the private credit and CLO markets, noting that any blow-up or problem in the private space could have spillover effects that create buying opportunities in CLOs.
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  John Hancock's Roland: 'Economic cycles don't die of old age, they're killed by the Fed' 17.09.2026 58p

  Emily Roland, co-chief investment strategist at Manulife John Hancock Investments, says that investors have been making themselves miserable while living through "the greatest four-year bull market in S&P 500 history," which may make them too worried about interest rate hikes. She says the market and economy are strong enough to push through rate hikes, at least until the Federal Reserve moves them up at least three times, and the interest rate on the 10-year Treasury gets to about 5.5%, which she thinks could be "the line in the sand" where the market stops shrugging off the hikes. "Economic cycles don't die of old age," Roland says, "they're killed by the Fed." As a result, she is recommending investors lean into high-quality bonds in the middle of the yield curve, noting that "Every stock on the planet is loved and every bond on the planet is hated right now; I will tell you from experience that investors tend to hate bonds right before they love them again." In the Book Interview, Lindsay Crouse discusses "The Case for Quitting: The Surprising Benefits of Opting Out," which is as much about personal habits as it is jobs and work. Crouse says people learn about themselves just by considering breaking habits, giving up things that "they've always done" that no longer play the same role in their lives, and just by considering what would happen if they simply stopped doing certain things in their lives, noting that it can reaffirm their commitment or help them see the benefits of change. Chip Lupo discusses the latest retirement savings survey from WalletHub, which found that 7 in 10 people believe a pension is better than a 401(k). To that end, more than half of Americans say they would prefer to pay a 12.4% Social Security tax to get double the benefits rather than the 6.2% tax that delivers current benefits levels. Lacking the stable, consistent support of a pension and dealing with current Social Security benefits levels is why 43 percent of survey respondents believe it is not realistic for the average American to expect to retire comfortably. 
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  Jonathan Treussard: 'Read the news, but watch the earnings' 16.09.2026 55p

  Jonathan Treussard, founder of Treussard Capital Management, says "the market is playing chicken with itself" by pushing interest rates on long Treasury bonds above 5 percent, but it's not quite ready to live with tighter economic conditions and he is not sure if the rate picture is the "something that breaks" to create a market meltdown. Treussard says that the market can continue powering forward, even as he lays out the case for real worries about how the current cycle will end. Still, he points out that it's not ending now, largely because of the high level of capital expenditures for artificial intelligence. As long as that eprsists, he says investors should "Read the news, but watch the earnings." Roy Schwartz, co-founder of Axios, discusses his new book out this week, "Simplify: Do 50 Percent More with 50 Percent Less, which is about simplifying decisions to get some of yoyur time back, because "if you can become more efficient, more successful, more productive if you can simplify other areas of your life, that for sure will help you compete against A.I. and stay on top of it." Schwartz, who wrote the book with Axios' other co-founders, discusses the "Confront. Delete. Amplify." strategy for improving your life. Stan Haithcock, better known as "Stan the Annuity Man," returns to the show to answer a question from a listener who recently got an early retirement offer from his employer, which has him trying to figure out if he should take a lump-sum payment or stick with his pension, and whether he would be better off leaving the pension in place or potentially buying an annuity to build his own pension to help him in retirement.
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  Shadowridge's Redfern: Market about to hit 'the best 8 months of this cycle' 15.09.2026 58p

  Ryan Redfern, chief investment officer at Shadowridge Asset Management, expects the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates this week, "but I don't think the market cares at the moment," so while there may be some short-term jitters over the move, it is more likely setting up a rally starting in November, carrying into the best eight months of the four-year presidential cycle, the period after mid-term elections running through June that has been positive for the market in every cycle dating back to the 1940s. Redfern says he does worry about the market turning, but that change is not showing up in the charts, and he plans to remain mostly invested until he sees a catalyst for a downturn. since he does not see a catalyst for downturn. Further, Redfern notes that he will stay invested in stocks because the bond market has started a 40-year cycle in which, long-term, bonds will be "garbage." Eric Zwick, co-author of "The Everywhere Millionaire: Who Is Really Rich in America and How They Got There," discusses his book's stories of people living the American Dream at a time when many people believe that ideal has become impossible to reach. Zwick notes that the American Dream "is more alive than you think,  but it's not necessarily where you're looking." He says it's a nationwide phenomenon — with the stories mixing intention, drive, desire and luck — but that the path to achieving the American Dream this way may be different now than it was in the past.  Steve Nicastro discusses research from Clever Real Estate which showed that just one-third of surveyed homeowners who had sold a home recently had asked their agent to lower commission costs, but that more than 90 percent of the sellers who asked for a discount got one. The savings for those who asked were real, with nearly all agents who agreed to lower commissions cutting at least 0.5% off their rate, and almost half agreeing to give a full percentage point discount.
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  Elyxium Wealth's Mortimer: We're 'mid-cycle bull market' with 'upside bias' 14.09.2026 57p

  Jeff Mortimer, chief investment officer at Elyxium Wealth, says he continues to lean into market weakness and is comfortable with heightened volatility, but he says the strong earnings that are under-pinning the market will keep most downturns looking like buying opportunities. "We remain in a mid-cycle bull market," Mortimer says, "which is important for listeners to understand in that it can change what you do with dips, and weakness that show up in any mid-cycle market phase." These conditions tend to breed a market that shrugs off bad news, jumps at positive feelings and that generally has the momentum to keep going higher.  Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, looks at the calls made last week by some A.I. power-brokers to slow the development of artificial intelligence technologies, and discusses whether those warnings will amount to much in a market where the players are all pushing for the next breakthrough. Marolia also looks at whether the latest inflation news released last week puts the Federal Reserve in position to hike interest rates this week, and whether an increase will derail the current market rally. Plus, he puts  puts Lululemon Athletica under his five-lens view to discuss whether the company — which has seen its shares lose more than half of their value in 2026 — is a falling knife or a well-timed buy. David Trainer, founder and president at New Constructs revisits Klarna stock in The Danger Zone. The buy-now, pay-later company was first in the Danger Zone before it went through its initial public offering in September 2025, but it's back in now because Trainer worries that a big recent drop in the stock could convince some investors to go bargain-hunting. With a negative economic book value on the stock, Trainer thinks Klarna investors will indeed pay for their purchase later if they buy the stock now.
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  NDR's Clissold: Economy, market can weather rate hikes and 5% bond yields 11.09.2026 59p

  Ed Clissold, chief US strategist at Ned Davis Research, says that economic indicators continue to look fine, but that growth is now driven by artificial-intelligence capital spending and wealth-effect spending by consumers who have benefitted from the rising market, which means that the positive trends can continue ""provided you don't get something that knocks the market on its back." Clissold worries that Federal Reserve chairman Kevin Warsh "may have backed himself to a corner here," putting him in position to hike rates soon, although he is clear that one or two hikes, historically, doesn't derail market trends. Likewise, higher Treasury yields shouldn't disturb economic growth until they get north of 5.25%. Clissold does expect headlines about oil prices, higher bond yields and election uncertainty to hit the market in September and October but — barring something unforeseen — expects that decline to presage a year-end rally.  John Cole Scott, president of CEF Advisors, returns to answer listener questions, delving into whether funds stuck with large discounts are actually a bargain if the discount is never narrowed and captured by shareholders. Scott, who also serves as chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance, discusses how discounts change a fund's risk profile, providing benefits even if they remain mostly unchanged over time. He also answers questions on achieving balance in a portfolio of closed-end funds, the drawbacks and benefits of using funds that invest in closed-end funds and more. Plus, Chuck goes off the news with Louis Hoch, chief executive officer at Usio — a payment-solutions company — to discuss the upcoming deadline in a $38 billion antitrust settlement in which Visa and Mastercard were accused of charging too much to process payments on their credit cards. The settlement in the case — which dates back more than 20 years — could have hidden costs for consumers, as it frees up merchants to add additional surcharges and to reject entire classes of cards, such as rewards cards which traditionally carry higher costs for the retailer.
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  Natixis' Janasiewicz: 'Slowing' economy remains a solid base for earnings 10.09.2026 59p

  Jack Janasiewicz, lead portfolio strategist at Natixis Investment Managers, says that the market's ability to keep running depends on the "up and to the right" trend continuing, and he expects that to continue even if the slope of the line gets flatter. There's a difference, Janasiewicz says, between a slowing economy and a slow one, noting that slowing conditions can still be a good backdrop for corporate earnings — "which is really all that matters here" — rather than a slow market, which opens the door to recession. For that, his outlook is for a slower economy without a recession, even if long-term Treasury yields creep higher, as he believes the economy can withstand higher rates and higher oil prices so long as those conditions don't become extreme. Nicholas Epley, author, "A Little More Social: How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection" — who says he studies "mind-reading ... how we make inferences about each other's thoughts, beliefs and attitudes and mostly how we screw that up and misunderstand each other in lots of ways" — discusses America's loneliness/isolation epidemic and how people should choose to engage more often because those interactions are good for physical and mental health. He talks about a recipe for making your world friendlier, especially in times when that feels so difficult. In the Market Call, Mike Dickson, head of research and quantitative strategies at Horizon Investments, discusses the mix of art and science he puts into evaluating stocks, using valuation metrics, earnings quality, profit margins, balance-sheet health and more for determining the best relative companies across each industry group.  He notes that the market's trends on beating earnings estimates remains a very strong broad-based trend, going beyond artificial-intelligence and tech companies to the smaller sectors.
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  MacroTides' Welsh: This market will keep running, but a bear market is coming 09.09.2026 58p

  Macro strategist Jim Welsh, publisher of the Macro Tides and Weekly Technical Review newsletter, says that the advance-decline line has been making new highs for months, which is a signal that "the odds of experiencing a significant decline is unlikely," so while he thinks there are storm clouds on the horizon that could cause a 7-10 percent market decline around mid-term elections, he thinks a secular bear market is still well off into the future. After the short-term correction, Welsh sees the market returning to higher highs, based on what he sees in the advance-decline line. Still, Welsh makes it clear that there is a long-term secular bear market ahead, but it won't arrive until investors "have a really good reason to sell;" that could still be a ways off, until something truly problematic shows up in the data.  In the Market Call, Jay Hatfield, chief executive officer at Infrastructure Capital Advisors, talks about the importance of getting the macro right before digging into the micro on stocks. In analyzing the macro, Hatfield says conditions should be supportive for continued growth, though he worries about a "totally irrational" rate hike from the Federal Reserve — but also is concerned about the impact that a rate cut could have — could make the market and economy struggle. Plus, after Tuesday's conversation about annuities with Stan Haithcock — better known as "Stan the Annuity Man" — Chuck answers a listener's question about whether he has an annuity for his own long-term finances