Abe Sheikh, chief investment officer at Cordoba Advisory Partners, says that if tensions in Iran cool and oil prices settle down — which the futures market is saying is likely by year's end — says that the current spike in inflation is temporary and the risk of runaway inflation is much lower than it was during Covid times. With that in mind, he thinks current events are more setting up investment opportunities than stopping investors and getting them to panic away from equities and heightened volatility.

With consumer sentiment at record lows — but consumer confidence improving ever so slightly — in March, Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, discusses why feelings make headlines but fundamentals make for better investment prospects. That's why he's leaning into some of the market's most beaten down sectors; he discusses his take on the private credit market and on how to lean into it for better yields without getting tripped up by the current-event risk, as well as what he expects from the Federal Reserve as it increasingly finds itself pinched between its dual mandates.

David Trainer, founder/president at New Constructs takes a victory lap on his pre-IPO take that put $BIRD in #TheDangerZone before it even launched.

Plus, Chuck answers a listener's question asking for clarification on how sequence-of-inflation risk works and how it differs in certain key ways from sequence-of-return risk. He has previously said, many times, that his big fear personally is sequence-of-return risk, and has said lately that prolonged inflation should have many people worrying about how it will impact their retirement if it remains sticky for the next few years.

Jeff Krumpelman, chief investment strategist at Mariner Wealth Advisors, says that the economy is on solid grounds and that earnings expectations are up, which has prompted him to stand fast on the 7,700 target he put on the Standard & 500 entering the year, and he expects the market to bounce back hard once headlines ease up and investors get more clarity. Krumpelman says he expects the market to broaden out, but he says it will be a "RAD" year, for "risk awareness and diversification," noting that investors will want to get portfolios back to their asset allocation plans and diversify to avoid concentration risk.

With the market kicking business-development companies in the teeth, John Cole Scott , president of CEF Advisors — and chairman of the Active Investment Company Alliance — grinds through his firm's "artificial-intelligence risk scoring" data to find BDCs that have been hurt by headlines without holding tainted portfolios. The result, he says, are two funds that have seen their valuations — but not their underlying portfolios — hurt by the headlines, making them underpriced value plays now.

In the Market Call, James Abate, head of fundamental strategies for Horizon Investments — portfolio manager for the Centre Funds — is also looking for areas of the market that have solid long-term prospects but that are facing current disruptions.

Mark Yusko, chief investment officer at Morgan Creek Capital Management, says global uncertainty "is at the highest level it has ever been," which is why investors have been leaning into quality and other factors they understand and are comfortable with, but he says value-oriented investors should be looking for less-traveled paths, searching for opportunities where they feel really uncomfortable "and where it's hard to pull the trigger." Yusko discusses ETFs in the Market Call, but also talks current events, noting that "Volatility is disagreement about future outcomes."

With the "ETF of the Week," Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, turns to an actively managed municipal bond fund as a tax-time diversion, but he notes that the low-cost fund with a solid tax-free yield deserves long-term consideration too.

Jamie Hopkins, co-author of "Your Retirement Sketchbook: 125 Retirement Planning Lessons from Financial Experts," discusses the new book, holes many people leave in their financial planning and how to take charge of the process and fill in the gaps.