iShares' Akullian: Strong economic growth is fighting the inflation battle, for now

Kristy Akullian, head of iShares Investment Strategy for the Americas at BlackRock — who says her job is to look at the economy and translate macro to markets and markets to investments — says that economic growth is strong, with numbers surprising to the upside in spite of firmer inflation, and while that has allowed the stock market to return to record highs, it should make investors nervous enough to want to diversify properly. "Higher rates that are the result of stronger growth are better for your portfolio overall," Akullian says, noting that it's why "we still have that optimism on the equity side of the portfolio" while adding that the higher yields are creating new opportunities in fixed income. Akullian says that she is "looking outside of traditional asset classes" to build in income and diversification in an era when "A.I. touches every part of your portfolio."

In "The Week That Is," Vijay Marolia, chief investment officer at Regal Point Capital, discusses the prospects for a Tesla-SpaceX merger — and whether it would be good for shareholders — after seeing Tesla unveil a rocket-powered roadster that got prediction markets buzzing on the prospect of a deal. Marolia also discusses how he is playing artificial intelligence amid sell-offs that have heightened market volatility and unnerved investors, and discusses the investment that he views as insurance against the volatile nature of the new technology. Plus, at a time when everyone is looking for ways to make their money go farther in the battle against inflation, Vijay says investors may be able to save themselves thousands by doing a simple re-evaluation on some of thir portfolio holdings.

David Trainer, founder and president at New Constructs, has been warning for a while now that some of the largest A.I. companies have so much hidden debt that they are less profitable than they seem. He thinks that trouble is coming to roost soon, in the form of lower earnings and more trouble for the Standard & Poor's 500, which is why he put the index in the Danger Zone this week. Trainer says the risk to earnings results puts valuations into question, and could be the trigger for a market correction or worse.