• Rising costs are reshaping family decisions and 7 in 10 Americans now say having children is too expensive (up 13 percentage points from last year). The estimated cost to raise a child to age 18 has climbed to roughly $322,000 adjusted for inflation. 1

• Since 2000, overall inflation is up 92.6%, but essentials have surged far more. These include hospital services (+281%), college tuition (+197%), childcare (+159%), and medical care (+147%). Meanwhile technology-driven goods plunged, including TVs (−98%) and software (−73%). 2

• Through November 2025, roughly 88% of the S&P 500’s 2025 gains were driven by the top 100 stocks. Since then, leadership has sharply reversed and the bottom 400 stocks account for about 76% of the market’s advance. *3

• In the 1990s, the S&P 500 paid out about 46% of earnings as dividends; today it’s roughly 30%. The shift reflects sector leadership changing from high-dividend energy, industrials, and consumer staples to technology, which now makes up 33.9% of the index and typically yields less. *4

1. The Independent – “More Americans Are Saying It’s Too Expensive to Have Children, and It’s Limiting How Big Families Are Growing”
2. A Wealth of Common Sense – “Animal Spirits: Gold’s 1987 Moment”
3. Bloomberg – “Revenge of the Real. Why Energy, Materials and Staples Stocks Are Beating the Market.”
4. State Street Global Advisors – “The Income Squeeze: How Market Concentration Is Reshaping Equity Returns”

*Past performance is not indicative of future performance

Economic Calendar

Monday:

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic speech, Fed Governor Christopher Waller speech, Fed Governor Stephen Miran speech, Fed Governor Stephen Miran podcast interview

Tuesday:

NFIB optimism index (Jan), Employment cost index (Q4), Import price index (Dec), Import price index minus fuel (Dec), Retail sales (Dec), Retail sales minus autos (Dec), Business inventories (Nov), Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack speech, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan speech

Wednesday:

U.S. employment report (Jan), U.S. unemployment rate (Jan), U.S. hourly wages (Jan), Hourly wages year over year, Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid speech, Monthly U.S. federal budget

Thursday:

Initial jobless claims (Feb 7), Existing home sales (Jan), Fed Governor Stephen Miran speech

Friday:

Consumer price index (Jan), CPI year over year, Core CPI (Jan), Core CPI year over year

Upcoming Earnings Calls

Monday - APO, BDX, ACGL, IX, CINF

Tuesday - AZN, KO, GILD, WELL, SPGI

Wednesday - CSCO, MCD, TMUS, TTE, SHOP

Thursday - AMAT, ANET, UL, BTI, BUD

Friday - ENB, NWG, TRP, CCJ, MGA

Client Focused Trading® for large institutions, pensions, hedge funds, wealthy families, and private equity for over 30 years.

Glen Eagle Wealth, LLC is a member FINRA and SIPC

This desk commentary is for informational purposes only

Carol Ann Fernandez

Rob Michel

Grier Vacek

Glen Eagle Wealth, LLC

4422C Route 27

PO Box 399

Kingston, NJ 08528

(609) 631-8231