Bear-fund manager expects a 'wide, sloppy range-bound market' for years

Money Life with Chuck Jaffe

Veteran market-timer Brad Lamensdorf, manager of the Ranger Equity Bear ETF and of a new market-neutral hedge fund, says that the market's outsized gain of the last few years has set it up for a long period of sideways and heavy volatility while high valuations settle into something more reasonable. He's not calling for a recession — and he thinks there will be plenty of opportunities for savvy stock-picking — but he says the market will be much less comfortable for investors than it has been over the last few years. Jordan Rizzuto, managing partner at GammaRoad Capital Partners — which assesses market and economic strength to determine broad asset allocations — explains how the firm came into 2025 with all of its measures being bullish, only to see those indicators start to turn so that by mid-March its key measures were negative; that had only happened four times before, each pre-saging significant market downturns. After the stock market recouped the tariff tantrum losses, one measure has turned positive, and Rizzuto notes that times of mixed indicators are when the changes are most tenuous. As a result, Rizzuto says current conditions should make investors cautious and defensive as they watch current economic and market headlines play out. Plus Chuck goes off the news to discuss the "Credit Card Competition Act," which has been tucked into some other legislation winding through Washington, and which could dramatically impact the future availability of loyalty and cash-back programs.