My local coffee shop finally gave in... A little sign near the register said "We apologize. Due to the price of eggs, we have updated the prices of some of our menu items."

The Truth About Americans' Disposable Income By Vic Lederman, editorial director, Chaikin Analytics My local coffee shop finally gave in... A little sign near the register said "We apologize. Due to the price of eggs, we have updated the prices of some of our menu items." Obviously, we've been hearing about the price of eggs for a long time now. And just like you probably have, I've seen egg prices creep up at the grocery store. That said, I'll admit that I'm not a particularly price-sensitive buyer... The price usually plays into my decision-making only if I'm "getting a deal." Or in some cases, if the price is so high that it offends my sensibilities. But for millions of Americans, price matters... a lot. In fact, many folks check their bank accounts before going to the grocery store. They need to make sure they don't overdraw their accounts. And, as I'm sure you've noticed, the news media spends a lot of time on their plight. Now, I don't mean to downplay the hardships these folks face. Across the country, millions of folks are struggling. But today, let's look at the aggregate numbers around disposable income. As I'll explain, they might surprise you... Recommended Links: LAST CHANCE: If You Own Any Stocks in 2025, Read This IMMEDIATELY... Wall Street titan Marc Chaikin predicted last year's bull run when everybody was expecting a recession. He also warned folks about the Magnificent Seven – six months before they lost $1 trillion in a global sell-off. Now he's sounding the alarm on what's coming NEXT for the stock market, based on a signal with 100% historical accuracy across more than 80 years of data. Click here for details before it goes offline tonight (includes a free recommendation). Elon Musk's Next Millionaire-Making Project? Elon Musk has already given us era-defining innovations like Tesla... the Gigafactory... and his extraordinary reuseable spacecraft. But it's his NEXT breakthrough that'll likely go down in history as the greatest of his life. It'll unleash the single greatest economic transformation America has ever seen. And in the process, it could create more wealth than all of his previous ventures... combined. Learn more here. Today, we're looking at data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis ("BEA"). It's one of the many arms of the federal government that help us keep tabs on how America is doing. And the BEA collects a lot of data. We'll start by looking at a raw number – disposable personal income. This is income after taxes. So, it's not "disposable" in the sense that you probably think of it. Instead, it's how much money Americans have to spend in general. Take a look at this chart of disposable personal income over time... First, notice that disposable personal income is at all-time highs. Additionally, you can see that the stimulus payments during the COVID-19 pandemic created a major distortion. But this chart doesn't include something that's darn important... I'm talking about inflation. Fortunately, the BEA provides us with inflation-adjusted data. Take a look at this next chart... This time, I've zoomed in. And the chart starts at the end of 1989. Seen this way, the pandemic distortion becomes even clearer. It's obvious that the payments the government made during that time were huge. They dramatically changed the state of Americans' after-tax income. And you also see that we're no longer at all-time highs. Looking at this data, we see simply that the effects of inflation are very real. But as I see it, that spike is the bigger problem... Remember that many Americans are facing real financial hardship out there. But in aggregate, disposable income (adjusted for inflation), is still growing. Unfortunately, for many Americans, it still doesn't feel like it. That's especially true for lower-income folks. Put simply, the stimulus payments during the pandemic created a "sentiment bubble." For the first time, millions of Americans had extra cash on hand. They went from living paycheck to paycheck... to having some true disposable income. Despite the growth in so-called "real disposable income," we're still not above that high-water line. And that feels terrible. Combine that with soaring costs of living, and you have a recipe for discontent. It's going to take time for Americans to break free of the pandemic-era disposable income anchor. And until then, we're going to continue to see widespread economic frustration. Put simply, sentiment matters. Good investing, Vic Lederman Market View Major Indexes and Notable Sectors     # Hld:     Bullish     Neutral     Bearish Dow 30 +0.09% 7 18 5 S&P 500 -0.46% 72 311 115 Nasdaq -1.18% 25 64 11 Small Caps -0.72% 292 1138 473 Bonds +0.29% — According to the Chaikin Power Bar, Small Cap stocks and Large Cap stocks remain somewhat Bearish. Major indexes are mixed. *  *  *  * Sector Tracker Sector movement over the last 5 days Staples +2.26% Health Care +1.95% Energy +0.98% Utilities +0.97% Real Estate +0.86% Financial -1.6% Communication -1.98% Materials -2.09% Industrials -2.41% Information Technology -3.53% Discretionary -4.15% *  *  *  * Industry Focus Semiconductor Services 3 27 10 Over the past 6 months, the Semiconductor subsector (XSD) has underperformed the S&P 500 by -4.03%. Its Power Bar ratio, which measures future potential, is Very Weak, with more Bearish than Bullish stocks. It is currently ranked #15 of 21 subsectors and has moved down 4 slots over the past week. Indicative Stocks WOLF Wolfspeed, Inc. INDI indie Semiconductor, MCHP Microchip Technology *  *  *  * Top Movers Gainers WBA +6.5% NKE +4.94% WST +4.82% EL +4.6% CRL +4.59% Losers WDC -28.65% PLTR -10.53% SMCI -7.95% LW -6.29% CEG -5.88% *  *  *  * Earnings Report Earnings Surprises O Realty Income Corporation Q4 $0.22 Missed by $-0.17 CTRA Coterra Energy Inc. Q4 $0.49 Beat by $0.06 FANG Diamondback Energy, Inc. Q4 $3.64 Beat by $0.26 ZM Zoom Communications Inc. Q4 $1.41 Beat by $0.10 OKE ONEOK, Inc. Q4 $1.57 Beat by $0.09 *  *  *  * 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 STEVENMAGALLANES520.NIMS@BLOGGER.COM. For questions about your account or to speak with customer service, call +1 (877) 697-6783 (U.S.), 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. Eastern time or e-mail info@chaikinanalytics.com. Please note: The law prohibits us from giving personalized investment advice. © 2025 Chaikin Analytics, LLC. 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