The Crisis Everyday Americans Are Facing

Viridiana Montero is desperate for diapers... The San Diego resident is a mother of three and works full time in a kitchen. Half her income goes to rent. Add in utilities, car payments, and food – and there's not much left to cover her daughter's heinie. [Chaikin PowerFeed]( Editor's note: We'd like to introduce you to one of our industry's brightest minds today... We're talking about our friend Dr. David Eifrig. At our corporate affiliate Stansberry Research, he's better known as "Doc." And he has one of the most impressive resumes in the financial-newsletter business... Doc got his MBA from Northwestern's Kellogg School. Then, he spent a decade working for prestigious Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs and Chase Manhattan. After that, Doc shifted gears. He left Wall Street and earned his MD from the University of North Carolina. From there, he became a medical doctor and a board-eligible eye surgeon. Doc made an even bigger move in 2008... He joined Stansberry Research. And since then, he has leveraged his real-world experience to help folks improve their health, manage their money, and enjoy a prosperous retirement. Put simply, Doc has seen it all. Today's essay first appeared in Doc's free Health & Wealth Bulletin e-letter on February 28. Millions of Americans are dealing with this problem. And it's likely worse than you realize... The Crisis Everyday Americans Are Facing By Dr. David Eifrig, editor, Stansberry Research Viridiana Montero is desperate for diapers... The San Diego resident is a mother of three and works full time in a kitchen. Half her income goes to rent. Add in utilities, car payments, and food – and there's not much left to cover her daughter's heinie. Montero uses more than $100 worth of diapers every month. That's money she often doesn't have. So when she learned that the Logan Temple AME Zion Church gives out free diapers, she became a regular at the church's weekly Saturday giveaways. Countless families are in the same situation as Montero. It boils down to a diaper crisis in America... Recommended Links: [Here's What You Missed Last Week]( Marc Chaikin has traded through 13 presidential elections during his 50 years on Wall Street. Today, he’s stepping forward to warn of a critical election-year event with a 90% chance of hitting U.S. stocks in the days following Super Tuesday. See exactly what’s coming... and exactly what to do with your money, [right here]( (includes two free recommendations). ["I've never seen anything like THIS in my 20 years as an analyst."]( For 21 years, Dan Ferris has helped readers navigate every market scenario you can imagine: the financial crisis of 2008... the Covid Crash of 2020... the inflation crisis of 2022 – the worst year for stocks in over a decade – and even the AI mania of 2023. But he says what's coming in 2024 is unlike anything he's ever seen before, which is why he just put together a short new update for you. [Watch here before March 8](. Doing simple math, babies use up to 10 diapers a day. That adds up to 300 a month. The average cost of a diaper is roughly $0.30. So monthly diaper bills can top $100... And that's per kid. If that sounds a lot higher than you remember, you're not wrong. Diaper inflation is real. According to the research firm NIQ, the average package of disposable diapers cost $16.54 as recently as 2019. Now, the average price is around $21.90. That's a 32% increase. Here's a chart from Bloomberg showing the price jump... [Chaikin PowerFeed] Understandably, this shift is putting pressure on millions of Americans. The National Diaper Bank Network is a nonprofit that helps groups collect and give out free diapers to folks in need. It found that 47% of U.S. families struggled to afford diapers in 2023. A few parents will attempt to potty train their children early to cut diaper costs. Montero told Harvard Public Health magazine that she would consider trying that. Others may risk diaper rash, infections, disrupted sleep, and soiled clothes by stretching the life of a dirty diaper. Or they might experiment with the inconvenience of cloth diapers. But for most American families, new disposable diapers aren't optional. They're a necessity. Folks might have to stand in line at a church for a donation, go into credit-card debt, or dial back their other purchases. But when diapers get dirty, they change them. And when their supply runs out, they have no choice but to get more. Ending this diaper crisis won't be easy. Roughly 225 diaper banks across the country try to help needy families. And other charities sometimes pitch in. But that's often not enough. In the coming months, efforts on both sides of the political aisle will ramp up for this year's presidential election. Of course, we'll hear all the typical "politician speak." The candidates will mostly dance around important issues that everyday Americans need to endure – like the diaper crisis. But even the best politicians can't avoid the real issues for long... Americans want solutions, not long-winded rants. Folks are starting to feel the pain because of higher prices. Families can't even afford diapers for their newborn babies, for goodness' sake. Stocks are around all-time highs today. But things don't feel all that great. Many families are carrying a credit-card balance much higher than in previous years. We'll see if this election can bring some change to help the typical American family. But we don't put too much faith in that. Good investing, Dr. David Eifrig --------------------------------------------------------------- Editor's note: Don't fall for the "national distraction" in the coming months... By that, regular readers know Chaikin Analytics founder Marc Chaikin is referring to the media's election coverage – such as the polling data and who's in the lead on any given day. As he says, it will come directly at the expense of your wallet in 2024... if you let it. That's why Marc recently put together a special presentation... It's the first time he has stepped forward this year. And importantly, he's urging folks not to get blindsided by what he sees coming. [Get the full story from Marc right here](. Market View Major Indexes and Notable Sectors # Hld: Bullish Neutral Bearish Dow 30 -1.04% 13 16 1 S&P 500 -1.0% 187 248 62 Nasdaq -1.79% 38 51 11 Small Caps -0.97% 505 1010 395 Bonds +1.42% — According to the Chaikin Power Bar, Large Cap stocks and Small Cap stocks are Bullish. Major indexes are mixed. * * * * Sector Tracker Sector movement over the last 5 days Real Estate +3.05% Materials +1.73% Energy +1.12% Utilities +1.11% Industrials +0.62% Financial +0.47% Staples +0.28% Information Technology -0.04% Communication -1.1% Health Care -1.2% Discretionary -1.21% * * * * Industry Focus Homebuilders Services 22 13 0 Over the past 6 months, the Homebuilders subsector (XHB) has outperformed the S&P 500 by +15.06%. Its Power Bar ratio, which measures future potential, is Very Strong, with more Bullish than Bearish stocks. It is currently ranked #3 of 21 subsectors and has moved down 2 slots over the past week. Top Stocks [rating] LEN Lennar Corporation [rating] DHI D.R. Horton, Inc. [rating] MAS Masco Corporation * * * * Top Movers Gainers [rating] TGT +12.02% [rating] DVA +7.09% [rating] HPE +5.54% [rating] CFG +5.23% [rating] ZION +4.54% Losers [rating] ALB -17.87% [rating] QRVO -5.76% [rating] INTC -5.37% [rating] ADSK -5.14% [rating] CRM -5.05% * * * * Earnings Report Reporting Today Rating Before Open After Close BF.B, THO VSCO CPB No earnings reporting today. Earnings Surprises [rating] TGT Target Corporation Q4 $2.98 Beat by $0.57 [rating] CRWD CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. Q4 $0.95 Beat by $0.13 [rating] ROST Ross Stores, Inc. Q4 $1.82 Beat by $0.17 [rating] FERG Ferguson plc Q2 $1.74 Missed by $-0.10 * * * * You have received this e-mail as part of your subscription to PowerFeed. If you no longer want to receive e-mails from PowerFeed, [click here](. You’re receiving this e-mail at {EMAIL}. 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