Expert on buying opportunities for investors amid COVID-19

The Wealth Consulting Group CEO Jimmy Lee joins Yahoo Finance’s Kristin Myers to discuss the latest job market slowdown, as job-cut announcements in July soared to the third-highest on record.

Video Transcript

KRISTIN MYERS: Some new economic data came out today. Filings for unemployment benefits last week totaled 1.2 million. Now, that is the lowest level of the coronavirus era but still above 1 million for the 20th straight week. Now, this is some good news because Wall Street had been expecting more than 1.4 million.

Of course, the continuing claims-- those are the people that continue to claim unemployment benefits for more than two weeks. That dropped by about 850,000. That level, of course, still at 16.1 million.

And on the stimulus front, both House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell came out this morning and reiterated that a deal would be reached on coronavirus aid. Now, the president himself has mulled executive action on payroll-tax cuts, moratoriums on evictions, and more. Still unclear how that is going to happen, if he even has the authority to do so. But right now, Democrats and Republicans are both struggling on reaching this deal, especially on how much money is going to be given to the American people, particularly that $600 unemployment boost. The White House had offered some sort of concession. They said it will be about $400. Nancy Pelosi, of course, several days ago had said that that $600 was a non-negotiable.

Now even among Republicans, there seems to be a rift and a lack of consensus on how much money should be given out in any kind of coronavirus aid package. Some members of the GOP saying that they're a little bit hesitant, frankly, to, through debt, hand out trillions of dollars, essentially to keep Americans and businesses afloat.

And on the coronavirus front, cases now up over 4.8 million-- over 4.8 million. We are nearly touching 4.9 million.

We also have the news now that Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has tested positive for coronavirus. Now, he's the second governor to have tested positive for the virus. Oklahoma Governor Stitt tested positive for that virus recently as well.

And the good news, however, new cases are on the decline, down by over 10%. We are, however, seeing new deaths on the rise. And we are seeing case counts actually rise in states like Hawaii while the hot spots of Florida, Nevada, and California continue to persist.

And we are even-- and we're going to be chatting this a little bit later-- these case counts surge in some Sunbelt cities. Those are the states of Texas, Florida. Cities in those states like McAllen, Texas, they are actually now seeing surges.

But I want to first start on jobs. As I mentioned, those unemployment claims falling to 1.2 million from an expected 1.4 million. So that's a little bit of optimism there in terms of economic recovery.

So for more on this, we are joined now by Jimmy Lee, CEO of the Wealth Consulting Group. So, Jimmy, some good news on the unemployment claims, but yesterday we got the private payrolls. That only increased by about 170,000, far below estimates. I mean, what do you think this is going to mean in terms of the jobs picture that we're going to be getting tomorrow?

JIMMY LEE: I think it's going to be a touch and go on the jobs front. And, you know, each state with every governor, you know, changing their reopening plans as the case counts and hospitalizations go up in their states will affect what's going to happen with that.

And so I think until election time, really, it's going to be mixed. It's a mixed bag on the news with jobs, and it's going to continue to be a concern for people that are unemployed and small businesses are just hanging on, trying to-- you know, trying to be open at some point.

KRISTIN MYERS: So when I think about jobs and the numbers, I almost feel as if we've been getting jerked around. We get some good news, and then we get some bad news as the cases spike. States start to shut down again. Then some more good news and a little bit more optimism. How patient do you think the markets are going to be with this kind of seesawing that we have going forward, at least particularly on employment?

JIMMY LEE: Well, I think that the stock market is bifurcated from the economy, really, and I think investors are looking way out, as I've said before. And so I think the stock market is going to still continue to climb. And, of course, we can get some pullbacks on some negative news with the virus and the economy, and I think those pullbacks are buying opportunities for investors.

So that's the theme until election time. I think that everything is so political regarding the news that we hear about the virus and what the governors are doing in each state that I think it will still be a bullish trend until then, but a lot of mixed news until that.

KRISTIN MYERS: So you're saying bullish all the way through the election because, you know, you said that, you know, this is not the time to be taking a profit. We should not be trying to time the market. I guess I'm trying to get a sense here-- we're seeing especially tech and the NASDAQ chugging along, up over that 11,000 level right now. I mean, how much higher do you think we're going to see US equities rise?

JIMMY LEE: Well, I think investors need to be very wary about maybe not being as diversified as they think they are because so much retail investors' money is going into ETFs that are following indexes such as S&P 500. And as we know, those indexes are so heavy as a percentage in mega cap tech, and I think that trade continues on. Those stocks continue to do well until we get a vaccine or a treatment that people really believe in that will take the fear away from going out in public.

And so until then-- which I think will happen much sooner than a lot of other people-- I think that those stocks will continue to rise. But when we get that turn when some, you know, positive news on the virus happens, like a vaccine, I think the profit taking happens in tech there. And I think some value sectors-- at that point, the money starts flowing into those sectors.

KRISTIN MYERS: OK, so to that point, I have two questions for you. One, as coronavirus continues to surge here in the United States, we're seeing now Europe having a much better handle on it. Is there in your mind, you know, now is the time for investors to perhaps start reallocating to European markets? And then even here at home, do you think that folks should start saying maybe we need to be looking more at value and shifting a little bit away from growth?

JIMMY LEE: Well, I do, but it's not just because, the, you know, European countries are having a better experience right now with coronavirus. I really believe that a lot of the news we hear in this country is because of the election coming up and it's such a big deal for that.

But I think that the idea of investing more into international markets is a good idea right now, especially because primarily the dollar continues to fall. And so I think sectors-- emerging markets, developed international, and hard assets such as gold as they keep setting new highs-- I think it's a good time to make sure you have enough of your money overseas. And retail investors in the US typically are underweighted in the US, and so I think it is a good time to look at your asset allocation there.