February 9, 2026 Market Moment

Market Moment

Glen Eagle®: America’s Women-Owned Trading Desk®

2/9/2026

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

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

*Past performance is not indicative of future performance