Tape Talk | Investing, Business, Wealth, And Your Money

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel discuss some financial moves to consider as the clock winds down on 2019. Headlines Before getting into the meat and potatoes, Quint and Daniel review the latest headlines in the trade war with China. Then, they question whether the new developments even matter any more? Headlines that might have moved the market in the past now barely cause the market to blink as traders settle into headlines exhaustion over the back-and-forth trade war stories. End of Year Planning One of the most critical pieces of your end of the year task list is ensuring you've updated your financial plan, assuming you have one. Quint breaks down the importance of a financial plan for investors to use as a roadmap as well as what you might be missing out if you have yet to do one. Tax Moves for 2019 If you want to save money on your taxes for 2019 the time is starting to run out. Quint and Daniel discuss two important strategies investors might utilize to save a few extra dollars.

In this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel review what's going on with the trade wars which have slipped out of recent headlines. Quiet Headlines While the headlines have been somewhat quiet this week that doesn't mean there is nothing going on in the market. We've seen earnings from some big bellwether which investors will use to assess the fallout from the recent trade wars and any potential economic slowdown. In The Trenches Quint and Daniel talk to Quint Pottinger of Affinity Farms to discuss how the trade war, as well as China's purchase of agricultural goods, is playing out in the trenches. You might be surprised to hear that the headlines are not all smoke and mirrors as farmers are actually seeing increased prices with China returning to US markets for products. Earnings In Focus Quint discusses three key companies that he's watching here for an indication of the health of the economy going forward. Unlike the popular FAANG stocks which encompass a technology-heavy lean these three stock

This week Quint takes a break from economics and finance to sit down with entrepreneur and small business owner Trainer Joe. With a background in collegiate sports, Joe Olliges was always interested in helping folks to achieve their fitness goals. It wasn't until he took the leap of faith to create his unique brand Trainer Joe that he began to turn his passion into a business. You won't want to miss this in-depth look into the business of fitness and weight loss. 

In this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel discuss the different ways investors should think about and view risk in their financial plan. Headlines This week's headline focus is back to China and trade. News broke during the week that China might be willing to make a deal, sort of. The problem with this news is that it's quite ambiguous. The market, however, didn't care and chose to rally on the potential for tensions to ease. Tolerance is Key Your risk tolerance is an important aspect of your financial plan. Your level of tolerance is dictated by what your portfolio can stand while still achieving the financial goals you set out. Temperament is Important Too Looking at your risk tolerance alone is dangerous though as it's also important to understand your temperament for risk. It's this metric that is better known as your "sleeping comfort" or what level of volatility you can handle and still sleep well at night. After all, it doesn't matter if your portfolio can handle the ups and downs in the

As the stock market begins to show some subtle signs of weakness in the short-term, Quint and Daniel discuss what matters here and what news they're looking at to assess where things go from here. Liquidity Event? The tightening in overnight lending from a couple of weeks ago has continued to persist. It seems that a rare "glitch" in the system has shifted to an ongoing trend. Quint and Daniel discuss what they're watching in this often-overlooked market to be on alert for something that might evolve into something more serious.  The Race to $0 Commissions Over the past week, online brokers have all acquiesced to the pressure from low-cost (or $0 cost) startups and subsequently all lower their commissions to $0. Schwab made the first move and was quickly followed by TD Ameritrade and E*Trade. While this means that customers and clients of these firms will benefit on the commission front, it does pose the question of where these companies will attempt to make up this lost revenue.  Hunting for Value? Quint

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel review the Federal Reserve's recent rate cut, drama in overnight lending markets, and the firm's recent equity position rebalancing. Headlines The FOMC met this week and, as expected, lowered interest rates by 0.25%. The market's reaction was fairly muted as this move was pretty well baked in to both equity and bond prices. Further, Fed Chair Powell didn't do anything in the Fed's post-decision press conference to shake investors confidence for the future. Overnight lending, however, is in the spotlight this week as the cost to borrow cash in the "repo market" spiked multiple times throughout the week. This particular market is critical for the healthy functioning banking system to move liquidity where it is needed. While the developments here are noteworthy and somewhat concerning, they don't necessarily indicate a definite disaster on the horizon and, therefore, the market has hardly reacted so far. Art of Rebalancing With major US stock indices essen

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel discuss eight steps you can take in the months ahead to increase your odds of financial success as the year closes out. Headlines Hong Kong headlines have quieted down and Trump tweets arrows at the Fed this week. However, the market hasn't been stumbled by much as far as news goes this week. In fact, the market spent most of the week marching back towards highs like it was drawn by a siren's song. 8 Steps to Success Now Rebalance Review bond bunds Tax manage your sells Send your RMD to charity Establish a SEP IRA, or another tax-saving account Pay off your bad debt, then all debt Check your diversification Know your "Required Rate of Return"

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel explore the moves higher this week across a variety of markets. Stocks, bonds, and gold, nearly every asset had its time in the spotlight this week. Good News Much of the week's moves were based on investors interpreting the headlines as good news. Focus turned from the recent protests in Hong Kong to the good economic indications come from data in the US, employment reports were decent, and the Fed is still indicating a move to a more accommodative policy at its September meeting. Combine these headlines with the US and China looking towards their next trade talks in October and investors found little to be negative about this week. Watch Your Bond Funds While many assets are up recently, it's important to remember what that means. Investors would do well to keep in mind that bond prices and bond yields move inversely of one another. This means that with yields near historic lows, investors are seeing the value of their bond funds near all-time highs. W

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel review what's been a quiet week in the market so far and dive into the much-hyped yield curve action. Bulls Return US stocks stabilized over the week after the previous weeks volatile sell-offs. Much of this calmer action seems to be attributed to the fact that economic data keeps coming in rather positive while headlines around the trade war escalation also seem to have slowed, for now. FOMC Minutes During the recording of this week's show, the FOMC meeting minutes from the most recent rate cut were released, which proved to be a non-event. While the Fed reiterated its stance that the recent rate cut may not be part of a new trend, markets seemed to find hope that the board overall was mixed on how deeply to cut rates this go around. How Rates Work While the Federal Reserve is heavily influencing liquidity and short-term rates in this environment, it's really the ten-year rates that people are focusing on. In fact, the 10-year yield was the catalyst fo

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel discuss the recent yield curve inversion and what that means to the market.  Inverted What?!? The headlines and watercooler talk this week is all about the recent inverted yield curve across the 2-year and 10-year Treasuries.  However, all the fantastic headlines tend to leave out why this matters to investors and what it really means. Quint and Daniel spend some time explaining the yield curve and why there is so much focus on inversion here.  Main Street Interest Rates It's all fine and good to know what's going on in Treasury yields but how is this trickling down into real-life economics of consumers who are affected by interest rates daily. What might be surprising to some is the vast divergence in the effect of the recent Treasury rate retreat on actual consumer rates. While mortgages are down some, many other rates have held steady or even rose! Recession on the Horizon? So if the yield curve is a recession indicator, does that mean we're on a dir

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel discuss the recent volatility across markets and what that means for investors. Trade War While stocks moved on the Federal Reserve's implication that the recent rate cut was not the start of a new trend, the move was propelled much further by matters worsening on the trade war front. After the Trump Administration broadcasted additional tariffs set to take effect, China released news of decreased purchases of United States agriculture products. 7.0, A Key Level Over the weekend, the Chinese Yuan broke the all-important 7.0000 psychological level which indicated the country was allowing their currency to devalue versus the US-dollar. This move effectively shifted the trade war from a matter of goods and services to a currency scuffle which US markets, with their volatile trading on Monday, indicated would be a fearsome escalation. Required Return While seeing your investing and retirement accounts gyrate with the forces of the market is never palatable,

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint reviews what's been happening in the market recently and what may lay ahead. Market Anomalies Often times the time to invest in particular companies or sectors is during a time when the waters appear choppy on the surface. Quint looks at Fastenal as an example of this particular strategy while considering whether Capital One Financial may be next on the list.  Opportunity in a Breach? Capital One Financial dropped on news that it is navigating a data breach but is it possible that the market is overreacting? Quint continues his discussion on finding value in adverse times by reviewing the company for potential opportunity.  Fed Flip Flop The Fed appears to be struggling with how to communicate clearly its intentions to investors. During his most recent press conference after the July FOMC rate decision, the future forecast became murky and the stock market sold off in response.  Know Thy Risk With markets entering a more turbulent period than they've been over th

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel discuss strategies to navigate the diverse newsflow here. From the Fed's upcoming rate hike, corporate earnings, and negative headlines, investors have a lot to digest while stocks push to new highs. Rate Cut Imminent  The market is pricing in a definite rate cut at the FOMC's next meeting at the end of the month. While it's hard to see strong evidence to support this cut beyond a simple precautionary step, it does appear the Fed has broadcasted this move heavily and the market is listening. Corporate Earnings Corporate earnings for this most recent reporting season have seemed to broadly beat investors' expectations. It appears many companies have been able to navigate the trade hurdles well. However, many seem to point to potential or actual price hikes in the future. Negative Headlines If you didn't know where the stock market was trading recently, many recent headlines might lead you to believe we are in the midst of a significant correction. This i

At 21, Mindy Wetzel was miserable and bored as a chemist within a cement company. Just a few years later she found herself on an archaeological expedition in Egypt unearthing a 3,000-year-old cemetery. In this unique and fascinating Tape Talk, Quint takes a break from the norm and discusses the fascinating career path of a modern-day Indiana Jones.

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel discuss this week's news of tariff fallout hitting the industrial sector and headlines around the upcoming FOMC meeting. Tariff Fallout In their earnings report this week, industrial giant Fastenal reported negative impacts of the recent trade war between the US and China with both top-line revenue and bottom-line earnings coming in under expectations. This underperformance combined with increased income tax costs had investors selling the name aggressively. However, Quint and Daniel break down what might be an opportunity for investors here. Cuts Baked In At this point the market, as represented by interest rate futures, are baking in 100% chance that the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates at their FOMC meeting this month. What Quint and Daniel find interesting about this move is that the economy overall is not in bad shape here which leads to the discussion, "why cut?"

This week Tape Talk welcomes friend and client Brent Beckwith owner of Beck Travel. Quint interviews Brent about his new venture and why after over 30 years in the corporate world why he chose to start a new travel advisory business. At 65 years young, Quint and Brent discuss the ins and outs of starting a new business and just why Brent chose the competitive field of travel. 

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel welcome Kelly Karls, Lexington Kentucky's "Queen of Real Estate." Headlines Before getting into real estate, Quint and Daniel review the headlines from this week's Federal Reserve FOMC meeting at which the Fed left rates unchanged with a hint that cuts may come. The market clearly supported the Fed's views, rallying after the meeting and continuing the rally into Thursday. What might be more notable though was the movement in gold which hinted that investors may believe the Fed doesn't have inflation under control. Hot Housing It's been another great start to the year for housing according to the Lexington's "Queen of Real Estate," Kelly Karls. While we are starting to see more price cuts than we had last spring it seems to be due more in part to hopeful pricing on sellers front rather than an actual dip in prices. Furthermore, the recent pullback in interest rates, with some 30-year mortgages now under 4%, is certainly getting buyers interested.

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel examine the quiet week so far in the market and ask, "where is the smart money flowing to right now?" What the Money While people may have all types of opinions about what happens next in the financial markets, their real vote is made with their money. For this reason, it can be important for investors to pay less attention to headlines and more to where the money is actually flowing around in the financial world. Recently, a look from this perspective reveals that semiconductor stocks have been under pressure and may become the unfortunate casualty if trade tensions between the US and China persist for some time. Interest Rate Uncertainty Over the past month interest rate futures, tied to the same short-term rates set by the Federal Reserve, have swiftly begun indicating a rate cut is on the immediate horizon. The chances priced in by the market are getting closer to certain for a cut by the July meeting of the FOMC. Quint and Daniel review these probab

On this week's episode of Tape Talk, Quint and Daniel review the recent volatility around Mexico Tariffs and speculations surrounding the Federal Reserve's next moves. The Mexico Front Tariffs and trade wars have still been in the news as of late but the battlefield may have shifted. Recently the President announced increasing tariffs on goods from Mexico in an effort to ward off illegal immigration by persuading the country into complying with requests to take a more active role in deterring the flow of people across the border. A Battle On Many Fronts The news about Mexico isn't just about the potential tariffs but the reality that tariffs may be the bargaining chip with other countries beyond China moving forward. As the message soaks in that the trade war has moved beyond just a spat between the US and China, companies and investors alike must consider the ramifications for any products and materials brought in from overseas. The Copper Tell While the economic outlook is not currently bleak it's import

Think modern farming is all riding tractors and raking up dirt? Quint and Daniel interview local soybean farmer Quint Pottinger of Affinity Farms to dig into what today's farm life is really about. Not Granddad's Farm Life You might have a picture of what a farmer does today; wake up early, ride a tractor, leave the field as the sun sets. However, you might be surprised to hear from Quint Pottinger of Affinity Farms that the stereotypical farm life is far from reality. Listen in to how he must keep abreast of financial news, geopolitics, and what's important to his overseas buyers all while still keeping in touch with what's going on in his fields. Farmville Meets Wall Street Commodities reveal a lot about what's going on in financial markets. Quint walks through some of the intricacies of how the prices of these commodities are heavily influenced by what's going on in trade deals between the United States and China. The ramification of how this deal plays out could have significant impacts on today's farme