Joe Quinlan, head of market strategy for Merrill and Private Bank, Bank of America, says that he expects the stock market to show better breadth in 2025, with other stocks picking up slack for the Magnificent Seven stocks, which he thinks will keep growing but at much slower rates. He notes that "the U.S. economy continues to defy expectations," and as long as that continues — and he is optimistic that it will, unabated by whatever happens in the presidential election — he will keep advising investors to buy the dips, favoring high-quality dividend payers. David Trainer, president of New Constructs, puts Sunrun back in the Danger Zone, noting that the stock has outperformed as a short since it was first singled out in 2022, but that a recent bounce-back has simply set it up for the next fall as the company runs out of money. Jerry Parker of Chesapeake Capital Corp. — one of the original Turtle Traders, a ground-breaking group of commodity traders from the 1980s — talks trend-focused investing in the Market Call, and Chuck answers a listener's question about why shares in Trump Media and Communication stock were halted on Friday, and whether the move might have had political motivations.

Scott Martindale, chief executive officer at Sabrient Systems — which takes a quantitative approach to investments — says that some of the standard measures of inflation are skewed in ways that present an inaccurate picture of what's happening now. He discusses the "Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices" and how it, and several other measures, suggest that the Federal Reserve has plenty of room to make a larger rate cut now, and while he doesn't expect the central bank to take that drastic step, he expects that the rate-cut cycle will pick up speed after the first cut is made. Trader Edward Corona, publisher of The Options Oracle, says that the stock market that is flirting with record high levels is giving him a lot of technical opportunities to look at reversal plays, the kind that has punished Nvidia stock since a recent mediocre earnings report. Mitchel Penn, managing director of equity research at Oppenheimer and Co. looks at how business development companies are likely to perform in a falling-rate environment, and identifies a number of BDCs that historically have generated high returns on equity with low credit losses along the way. Plus, Scott Bennett, founder of Invest With Rules, brings his trend-following methodology to the Money Life Market Call.

Gargi Chaudhuri, Chief Investment and Portfolio Strategist, Americas, at BlackRock, says that while she foresees a slowdown in the economy but nothing that will rise to the level of a recession. Still, as the Federal Reserve enters a rate-cutting phase during the fall — a historically volatile time for the market — she expects that investors will see heightened market movement, and that they will need to be patient to ride out the bumps confidently. Chaudhuri expects the market to broaden out, and says  "keep high quality, add some defense and look for continuing gains over a longer period of time." Another way to answer Chaudhuri's call for caution would be with a low-volatility fund, and Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi , makes one his ETF of the Week. Chuck revisits his July decision to not get pet insurance in the wake of the injury his puppy Maho suffered in early August and the significant vet bills he has paid since. Plus Ivana Delevska, founder of SPEAR Invest — which runs the Spear Alpha ETF — talks about finding value in the industiral supply chain in the Market Call.

Jonathan Treussard, founder of Treussard Capital Management says "we haven't seen this much geo-political static on the horizon in at least a generation," raising real concern about how a laundry list of global boiling points could hit home. He says those risks overhang a market that looks like it can avoid a downturn for a while with the Federal Reserve looking like it can deliver a soft landing. Catherine Collinson, president of the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies looks at the group's latest research into the state, outlook and retirement readiness of the American middle class and, in the Market Call, Manny Weintraub, principal at Cannell & Spears, talks about his unending search for "super great stocks that won't kill you."

Kristina Hooper, chief global market strategist at Invesco, says that recessions haven't been canceled, but there is no reason to expect one for at least the next year, "especially if we get the Fed to start to meaningfully ease." She thinks the Federal Reserve will start that easing process later this month with a small rate cut, largely because anything larger might spook the market. Hooper says she thinks the Fed is late to begin the cuts, which is why making the move now and starting the rate-cutting cycle is important for staving off recession. Chip Lupo, writer and analyst at WalletHub discusses the site's recent study into the best places to retire, finding that four of the top five locales being in Florida, but the fifth in frigid Minnesota. He discusses the factors that will ultimately make some community best for you.  Plus, market contrarian Hilary Kramer, who runs seven different investment newsletters, focused on everything from value investing to IPOs to trading and more, returns to the Market Call to talk stocks.

David Trainer, founder and president at New Constructs — who put Nvidia stock in "The Danger Zone ahead of its earnings report at the end of August, just before the stock cratered — says that the market and economic conditions are changing and lower liquidity and a slowing economy "is a recipe for a major correction in a lot of individual stocks," and that companies with misleading earnings are particularly likely to be punished. That's why he put Dayforce in the Danger Zone, because it has "the most overstated earnings" in the Standard & Poor's 500. Trainer also reiterates his call on Nvidia, noting that despite the stock's recent drop, it has a lot more room to fall. John Cole Scott, president of Closed-End Fund Advisors discusses how investors in closed-funds trading at premiums can use sector-swapping to turbocharge their gains, selling funds trading at premiums to buy similar funds currently at discounts, and provides examples of how this would pay off now. Andrew Leigh, author of “How Economics Explains the World: A Short History of Humanity,” discusses how almost everything — from climate change to the instrument a child plays — is impacted by economics and how economics can therefore be used for better decision-making. And in the Market Call, George Young, co-manager of the Villere Balanced and Villere Equity funds, talks about having the patience to let long-term plays on smaller companies pay off.

David Souccar, international equity portfolio manager at Vontobel Quality Growth, says that the interest-rate cutting cycle is going to help international equities, as foreign central banks follow the Federal Reserve's moves, which should help foster a softer landing worldwide.  That said, Souccar notes that if the United States starts raising tariffs radically, it will hurt the dollar, which will make investors want to invest internationally to protect against the dollar's falling value against other currencies. Souccar notes that investors are likely to find the most opportunity in Europe — particularly in Great Britain — Canada and Japan. Plus, Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, picks a total-market fund that equal weights its holdings by sectors for his ETF of the Week, Matt Schulz, chief credit analyst at LendingTree, discusses their survey on how many parents give children access to credit cards and how often they regret that decision, and Kelley Wright, editor of Investment Quality Trends, brings his disciplined approach to value investing to the Market Call.

A funny thing happened on the way to today’s show. Okay, it’s not so funny since it basically canceled the show so take a quick listen to find out what happened.

David Goerz of @StrategicCAPM says the current market is putting a twist on Internet Bubble days, but that stock valuations are extremely high and so are most risk factors, so investors might want to hunker down and wait at least for rate-driven volatility to pass. Joel Dickson of Vanguard Group discusses how rules changes impacting the way investors must remove money from individual retirement accounts (IRAs) they inherit from loved ones should worry most people about how following conventional wisdom might be leading them right into a big tax bill that could be avoided with some extra planning. Plus, John Cabell of J.D. Power on the firm's look into just how satisfied US consumers are with their credit-card programs and the perks and minuses they get in exchange for their loyalty.

Michael Ball, president and lead portfolio manager at Weatherstone Capital Management, says that while the economy appears to be headed for a soft landing, that smooth ride and the first rate cuts have already been priced into the bond market, which means that bonds are not giving much cushion right now against any softness that could lead to a recession. He notes that higher quality bonds in floating-rate bank loans, short-term high yield and other niches are strong values in current conditions, especially when deriving income from sources like dividends is pricey, given stock market valuations. George Kinder, president, The Kinder Institute of Life Planning — a pioneer in the "life planning" realm of financial planning — discusses his latest project, a self-published book about achieving balance and happiness in life, called "The Three Domains of Freedom: Each Moment is Yours, Your Life is Yours, Civilization is Yours." Plus, Mark Yusko, chief investment officer at Morgan Creek Capital Management, discusses tactically using ETFs in the Market Call.

Julius de Kempenaer, senior technical analyst at StockCharts, says that money is rotating out of technology and "into pretty much every other sector," which means that participation in the current bull run is broadening out. Still, he says, there is a question of whether the upswing can continue if tech isn't participating. As a result, deKempenaer sees the market trading close to current resistance levels, and he worries there is more potential for the Standard & Poor's 500 to drop to 5,550. If that support level fails, de Kempenaer sees 5,120 -- a much steeper drop -- happening quickly. Alaina Anderson, co-portfolio manager of the William Blair International Leaders Fund, says that investors may find better opportunities and stability investing overseas, where valuations are particularly compelling. Shannon Martin, analyst at Bankrate.com, discusses her study on the hidden costs of car ownership, which showed that the average hidden expenses of owning a gas-powered vehicle in America add up to nearly $7,000 annually, and John Cole Scott, president of Closed-End Fund Advisors — the chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance — discusses how corporate actions in closed-end funds — tender offers, liquidations and transitions to open-end funds, rights offerings and big changes in dividend policy — historically play out and how investors can use those historic results as a guide on how to act if they see those actions in the funds they own.