Program:  Cavuto Live
Date:  7/18/2022
Station:  Fox Business News
Time:  12:00PM

MIKE: With inflation rising at a record pace, high prices at the pump are not not the only surging cost weighing heavy on Americans. Joining me now live to weigh in, Kingsview Wealth Management chief investment officer and FOX business contributor Scott Martin. Scott, welcome.

SCOTT MARTIN: Hey, Mike, fist bump to you, by the way. How are you doing.

MIKE: From the Fox poll? The brand new Fox poll condition of the economy, 17%, excellent or good, 84% fair or poor. Scott, what is your assessment?

MARTIN: Oh, terrible. Is that on the list, Mike? I tell you, I’m surprised about that 17% that actually think things are okay. But the reality is this it’s where the numbers are really going and they’re going down, as was talked about in the previous segment. We’re trying to claw our way back to all these mistakes that have been made, whether it’s in gas prices, general inflation, overseas policy and so forth. And right now, the administration is struggling to even get back to say, halfway to where we were. And so you’re going to see those polls continue to fall as some of the economic data, the inflation numbers and sorts keep can continue to get worse.

MIKE: Gasoline prices, $4.53 a gallon today on average. Nationally, that’s down from five bucks a month ago, but up from 3.17 a year ago. What’s the big picture impact on the US economy?

MARTIN: It’s terrible. I mean, especially if you think about it on the consumer level, but also think about it on the producer level. I mean, think about all the costs as far as gasoline, diesel fuel that go into selling the goods and delivering them if you’re a company out there. So it’s affecting everyone. And I love the perspective, Mike, that you mentioned there. It’s like, yeah, sure, gas prices have fallen maybe in the last two weeks and the administration is taking a huge victory lap on it, or at least starting to warm up to take one. Yet, if you look at it over the last year, it’s a bad situation and that’s exactly what they want to do. They want to do these smoke and mirrors to tell you, hey, things are better over the last two weeks. But if you look beyond that or before that, it looks terrible. So therefore they need to get a lot more improvement going as far as getting the American people back to where they were.

MIKE: And it’s of course, it’s not just as the fuel pump, notable price hikes, eggs up 33%, but are up 21%. Milk up 16%. Gasoline up 59%. Airline fares up 34%. What tools should the Biden administration be using on these issues?

MARTIN: Well, hopefully none. Mike, because they’ve said they’ve tried to do everything they can. And when they can’t do anything, they say it’s part of the plan. So I want them to get out of the way. I mean, the reality is you have to let the free market operate and adjust price accordingly. It’s when they get involved. And that’s is the case for a lot of government issues. When they get involved, that’s when things get very skewed. And you’re right about those percentages. You know, the CPI, the Consumer Price Index, as we’re told, is about 9% to the high side right now as far as growth year over year. But some of these price fixtures, as far as some of the fixes in the prices that they’ve already tried to suggest they’re doing aren’t working because the numbers you showed there show that things are getting out of hand more than they are than they are less.

MIKE: So folks who’ve looked at their 401. KS retirement accounts, other investment accounts, notice they have taken a beating. What is your advice for investors right now?

MARTIN: Well, everybody’s got a different kind of risk horizon and risk profile. But the reality is we’ve been through markets like this before. I know it feels like it’s different every time we’re investment advisors and we’ve seen markets like this with stress and so forth. So the reality is you’ve got to check yourself a little bit on your risk profile, see what you own, but realize this too shall pass eventually. Don does come even though it’s dark in the middle of the night here. But at least as far as the markets go, they will rally to a head mike of, say, an economic recovery because they always do. They preempt that recovery. So I think the market recovery is going to come sooner than people think, especially if the economy continues to languish here.

MIKE: And Scott, let’s end on a bright note. If the market’s down right now, is there an opportunity for investors to buy value?

MARTIN: Yes, depending on what you mean by value, I would tend to buy growth here because value is actually held in there pretty well vis a vis some of the growth components or counterparts. So you want to have a diversified basket of stocks for sure. But the reality is looking at what has probably the best potential to go up from here. I believe it’s growth stocks and things in technology.

MIKE: Scott Martin looking sharp on a Sunday. Scott, thanks very much.

MARTIN: And ending on a bright spot. Thank you, Mike.

MIKE: Thank you, sir.