Social Security is an essential means of financial support for many older Americans. With so many baby boomers receiving Social Security payments, will there be enough money in the program for future generations?
Key Takeaways
Social Security provides financial support to retired Americans and Americans with disabilities.
The baby boomer generation is so large that it is putting a strain on Social Security.
Raising the retirement age and raising Social Security taxes are two ways to address this growing demand for benefits.
Some Americans are nervous about proposed changes to Social Security by the Trump administration, but supporters see the changes as making Social Security more efficient.
Changes Needed
The Social Security trust fund will be able to pay 100% of benefits until 2033 and then will only be able to pay 79% of benefits. Changes to Social Security will be needed within the next few years to bolster the program’s funds.
“The number of beneficiaries compared to the number of workers will increase over the next decade. There will have to be some changes with the way Social Security will work,” says Chuck Czajka, a certified Social Security claiming strategist and founder of Macro Money Concepts.
“One potential solution is to raise the retirement age to age 70. Boomers are working longer, which has helped Social Security funds from being depleted,” Czajka says. “Adjustments will have to be made, like increasing the taxes or raising the retirement age. I believe these changes can shore up Social Security for future generations.”
Job Cut and Retirement Age Concerns
Plenty of people are nervous about the changes to Social Security that the Trump administration may be proposing, including slashing jobs at Social Security.
“With Trump and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) making swift cuts to the program and decreasing the workforce, beneficiaries will begin to have a delayed retirement process and not get the customer service they need,” says Colin Ruggiero, co-founder of DisabilityGuidance.org. “The Social Security Administration (SSA) is already overwhelmed as it is, so processing claims with a reduced workforce could be catastrophic. If there is a delay in benefits for those who collect them, millions will be affected financially. There are over one million disability claims that have yet to be processed, and beneficiaries are racking up debt to make ends meet.”
Ruggiero isn’t alone in his concerns. About 51% of surveyed adults are worried that the Trump administration could make changes to Social Security that would negatively affect them, and 60% of adults believe the Trump administration will attempt to raise the retirement age for Social Security, according to Taylor Shuman, an editor at SeniorLiving.org.
But Czajka doesn’t see the potential changes as negatives for Social Security.
“The Trump administration’s recent moves could actually benefit the Social Security trust fund,” Czajka says. “Social Security will be made more efficient.”
The Bottom Line
To meet the growing demands of the baby boomer generation, a change will have to be made to Social Security, whether it is lifting the retirement age to 70 or raising Social Security taxes. So while baby boomers haven’t drained Social Security completely, the number of baby boomers collecting Social Security is a challenge.
Whether changes are made during the Trump administration or a future administration remains to be seen. In the meantime, Social Security will continue to provide a vital financial lifeline to millions of Americans.
Don’t let AI panic shake you out… here’s how to play it smart.
Editor’s Note:Market volatility can be scary – much like a rollercoaster ride. As we weather the ups and downs, it can sometimes be difficult to decipher when a pocket of opportunity presents itself, especially during the drops.
Today, my InvestorPlace colleague Louis Navellier is joining us to discuss how the recent market panic has overshadowed strong AI earnings and growth outlooks. He’ll share the five steps you can take to protect your portfolio.
Take it away, Louis…
In 1994, Disney’s Hollywood Studios in Florida opened one of its most ambitious rides yet:
The Tower of Terror.
True to its name, the giant elevator ride took audiences on a tour through a towering hotel inspired by The Twilight Zone. Mind-bending stories… haunted tales…. eerie music…
And once riders reached the 13th floor, the elevator would suddenly stop… then plummet back down the shaft.
“Tower of Terror” is a fitting description of markets today.
Unlike roller coasters, where you can usually see what’s coming, the Disney Tower ride gives little indication of the sudden drop about to happen. It’s designed to be unusually terrifying.
And here’s the most interesting thing:
While the elevator ride drops as fast as 39 miles per hour, it doesn’t fall very far. Only six stories are actually used as the shaft’s “fall height,” and special illusions are used to fool people into thinking things are worse than they seem.
So, riders never drop as far as it feels, and they never hit the ground.
Sound familiar?
It certainly feels like we’ve been on our own terrifying ride in the market here lately. Thanks largely to the “tit for tat” game of tariffs playing out between President Trump and other nations on the world stage, investors are growing concerned about inflation, slowing growth… even the dreaded R-word (recession) is coming up in some discussions.
As a result, the markets have been in seesaw mode. The S&P 500 set a new record high on February 19. But after that, the overall stock market was in a seemingly downward spiral.
Then, last week, the stock market broke a four-week losing streak. Things got off on a positive note this week, as major indices were all broadly higher on Monday and Tuesday, only for things to turn south on Wednesday as a new round of tariff threats emerged.
Today, I want to focus on how this all feels for investors right now – and the five steps to take to protect your portfolio.
A Quick Word of Caution
Before we begin, it’s important to acknowledge that selloffs are still negative events (I don’t like it when my stocks go down either, folks).
So, even though the following five things to do during selloffs paint a rosy picture, I recognize that pullbacks still have real costs. Warren Buffett might love selloffs because he has billions in the bank to spend; I understand that most Americans have no such luxury.
With that said, let’s get to No. 1…
1. Remember That Markets Are Manic
The stock market has ignored a lot of great AI news lately. On March 10, for instance, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSM) reported that February revenues had surged 43.1% to 260 billion Taiwan dollars. This is a historically strong forward indicator for chip-designing firms like Arm Holdings plc (ARM) and NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA).
Separately, the Financial Times noted on March 9 that U.S. startups are raising more cash than at any point since 2021 on red-hot AI demand. These fast-growing firms now have more capital to invest – a positive sign for AI infrastructure firms.
And let’s not forget that NVIDIA wrapped its week-long developers conference last week. There was a host of important announcements made, from the company’s next-generation chips to a critical partnership related to self-driving cars, and more.
But investors have only focused on the negatives lately (mainly tariffs). The media only adds fuel to the fire in situations like this, because every setback in talks, and every ensuing pullback, is covered like it’s a full-blown crisis.
This has sent the prices of many world-class AI stocks into correction territory. As a result, we’re now facing a grossly oversold stock market where phenomenal companies like NVIDIA are trading at incredible discounts.
2. Keep Your Eyes on the Fed
Over the past two months, bond yields have decreased as investors have piled into safe-haven assets. (All else equal, a stampede into bonds raises their prices, depressing their yield.) Lower-than-expected inflation reports recently have also further weighed down on yields.
The upshot is that the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has become much more dovish. In their recent meeting on March 19, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said the Fed would scale back its quantitative tightening efforts. Although the Fed only anticipates two rate cuts this year, most analysts now anticipate three rate cuts.
Now, I expect four cuts. That’s because I expect global interest rates to plummet this year. The fact is economic growth is weak (or contracting) in Asia, much of Europe, as well as Canada and Mexico. As a result, I expect other central banks to continue to slash rates. This, in turn, will cause Treasury yields to decline, and the Fed will not fight market rates.
This is a typically bullish signal for stocks because lower interest rates reduce the “discount rate” applied to cash flows and increase present value. Put simply, falling interest rates make stocks more desirable.
The effect is even more pronounced for innovative early-stage companies. That’s because their profits are projected far into the future. These positive cash flows must be “discounted” to present value, so even tiny drops in the discount rate can have an enormously bullish effect. (In that sense, pre-profit firms are much like long-duration bonds.)
3. Rebalance Your Portfolio
The recent bout of volatility now gives everyone a chance to rebalance portfolios.
“Set-and-forget” investors often leave money on the table. They fail to take profits from overly pricey stocks and miss opportunities when lower-priced opportunities arise. In fact, studies have shown that investors can add more than 100 basis points of annual performance simply by regularly rebalancing their portfolios. (Doing so also comes with the benefit of lower volatility.)
That’s where my simple 60%/30%/10% rule comes into the picture.
In my paid services, I like to divide my portfolio holdings into three distinct risk categories: Conservative, Moderately Aggressive and Aggressive. Everyone’s risk tolerance is different, but I recommend allocating 60% of your portfolio to Conservative stocks, 30% to Moderately Aggressive stocks and 10% to Aggressive stocks.
When you do this, you give your portfolio the perfect mix that will protect and grow your wealth while giving exposure to the kind of home run stocks that will jolt your returns.
One more thing… Many investors fall into the trap of having too much exposure to one stock. When you have a big winner, it can easily dominate your holdings. While I fully believe in letting your winners run, you have to do it safely. A good rule of thumb is to never let a single company represent more than 10% of your portfolio.
4. Watch the Technical Factors
I want to make a comment to folks who are thinking of “buying the dip.”
Eric and Luke, as well as myself, all fully believe that recession fears are overstated. America’s labor market remains strong, with unemployment at just 4.1%. Manufacturing output is on the rise; February’s ISM Manufacturing PMI rose to 52.7 up from 50.3 the month before. (Any number above 50 represents an expansion.) And even bond markets are only giving a 27% chance of a recession over the next 12 months – not an unusual figure once you realize a recession generally happens every seven years.
However…
You should know that stock markets are not rational calculating machines. Again, markets are manic. They’re made up of emotional traders and peppered with stop-loss orders designed to sell indiscriminately when prices fall. Both have a habit of triggering even lower prices, creating even more stop-loss selling, and so on.
That’s why it’s helpful to pay attention to technical factors – the price movements that influence human and algorithmic traders alike. Specifically, take a look at the 250-day moving average (250MA) on the S&P 500. Nothing good tends to happen below that, and we temporarily dropped below that level on March 10 when the S&P 500 sank below 5,645.
Last week brought a convincing retake of that level. On Monday, the S&P 500 briefly moved above the 250MA threshold, and then surged above 5,675 on Wednesday after the Fed’s dovish comments. This should be seen as a “green light” to dive back into markets.
5. Focus on the Fundamentals
This might be the most important one of all, folks.
For example, of the 11 AI Revolution Portfolio companies that reported earnings last month, nine beat expectations, and another met forecasts. As a group, these 11 firms posted 18% revenue growth and 24% earnings growth, and they are set to increase profits by another 77% by 2026.
In comparison, the S&P 500 grew earnings 7.1% in the first quarter, while revenue increased 4.2%.
These are phenomenal numbers and serve as a reminder that great investment themes will outlast any market wobble.
A Rare “Second Chance” on the AI Revolution
Together, these five actions should make you feel more secure… even when it seems like the whole world is falling down.
Let’s face it: Wall Street’s Tower of Terror has unduly pressured AI companies. Traders are rotating into “safe haven” assets like gold, while turning their back on the high upside promise of the market’s best AI plays.
The upshot is that when markets bounce back, we believe our fundamentally superior stocks will mount an equally strong rise.
As I like to say, fundamentally superior stocks bounce like fresh tennis balls… And that’s exactly what we hold in our AI Revolution Portfolio.
So, if you missed out on the big gains from AI stocks since 2023, this is a rare “second chance” to get in on some of the most innovative companies in the world. In fact, our latest batch of picks easily has triple-digit upside in just a handful of months.
That’s why I teamed up with Eric and Luke to deliver a rare special broadcast earlier today.
In it, we revealed why nearly a trillion dollars of new investments could soon flood two little-known corners of the AI Revolution… how it could accelerate the lucrative AND destructive force behind the phenomenon known as the Technochasm… and what you need to do to prepare (and profit).
I urge you to check out our conversation before it’s too late.
The Editor hereby discloses that as of the date of this email, the Editor, directly or indirectly, owns the following securities that are the subject of the commentary, analysis, opinions, advice, or recommendations in, or which are otherwise mentioned in, the essay set forth below:
Written by Steven Dooley, Head of Market Insights, and Shier Lee Lim, Lead FX and Macro Strategist
US stocks lower, but FX more muted
US stocks were down sharply on Friday, with the Dow Jones falling 1.7%, S&P 500 down 1.9% and Nasdaq down 2.7%. For the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, it was the worst week since mid-December.
Friday’s US PCE number – the Federal Reserve’s preferred measure of inflation – hit sentiment with an unexpected rise in inflation with core PCE up from 2.7% to 2.8% in annual terms in February. Worryingly, spending fell, signalling a double-whammy of bad news.
However, as we have seen over the last two weeks, FX markets were more restrained, with only moderate moves on Friday.
The AUD/USD fell 0.2% on Friday after trading in a tiny range between 0.6255 and 0.6330 all last week.
The NZD/USD lost 0.4% to drift back to the lowest level since 14 March.
In Asia, the USD/SGD gained 0.1% while USD/CNH lost 0.1%.
“Liberation Day” nears
Global markets will likely be on edge ahead of the next round of tariff announcements, due on 2 April, and dubbed “Liberation Day” by President Trump.
Over the weekend, reports in the Washington Post suggested President Trump is pushing his advisers to take a more aggressive approach.
Trump is supposedly mulling whether to impose a set amount on all imports into the US or focus on the so-called “Dirty 15” trading partners that include the EU, Japan China, Canada and Mexico amongst others. (Australia, NZ and Singapore are not on the list).
Historically, more aggressive US tariff action has caused trade-sensitive currencies like the Aussie, Canadian dollar and Chinese yuan to weaken. However, more recently, this correlation has faltered, as markets instead focus on the negative impact on US growth.
Over the longer term, we expect trade-sensitive currencies to again suffer from tariff news – it’s just a matter of when.
RBA, Eurozone CPI, US jobs due this week
Away from tariff news, the focus will be on this week’s Reserve Bank of Australia decision, EU inflation and US jobs report.
The RBA, due 2.30pm Tuesday AEDT, has seen a massive shift in expectations over the month of March – from a 13% probability of a 25bps cut on 3 March to 90% today (source: Bloomberg). However, questions remain whether the RBA is willing to cut interest rates in the middle of an election campaign.
Eurozone CPI, due at 8.00pm Tuesday, will be key ahead of the 17 April European Central Bank decision. The euro has recently eased after a surge higher in late February – a higher inflation read could reignite the euro rally.
Finally, the biggest and baddest economic release of them all – the US non-farm payrolls number – is due on Friday night. Financial markets are looking for 139k jobs to be added – the lowest market forecast since the October report.
Aussie, kiwi fall into torpor
Table: seven-day rolling currency trends and trading ranges
*The FX rates published are provided by Convera’s Market Insights team for research purposes only. The rates have a unique source and may not align to any live exchange rates quoted on other sites. They are not an indication of actual buy/sell rates, or a financial offer.
After a divorce, child support payments are an important means of financial support. Understanding how child support works and how it is calculated is essential to both parents.
“Child support is financial assistance that one parent provides to the other to help cover the costs of raising a child after a divorce or separation,” says Matthew Dolan, founding partner at Dolan Divorce Lawyers. “How child support is calculated differs from state to state; however, it generally considers factors such as the terms of the parenting plan, the income of the parents, the number of minor children, child care costs that either party may incur, as well as medical expenses associated with the children.”
Key Takeaways
Child support is money one parent pays to the other to assist with the costs of raising a child.
Child support lasts until the child graduates high school or reaches the age of 18.
Failing to pay child support has serious consequences, including wage garnishment, suspension of a driver’s license, and jail time.
What is a key concept about child support that is important to understand?
“You generally need to understand that the child support amount depends (on) which parent has primary physical custody of the child, along with the income and expenses of each parent,” Dolan says.
Key Child Support Terms
What child support terms are important to know?
Lucia Ramirez Levias, partner at DuBois Levias Law Group, offers these four key definitions:
Child support order: A legal document issued by the court that outlines the financial responsibilities of each parent
Mutual agreement: The ideal scenario where both parents agree on child support terms before presenting them to the court
Mediation: A process where a neutral third party helps parents negotiate child support terms, often reducing legal costs and conflict
Court determination: If parents cannot agree, a judge will decide on child support terms based on financial documents and legal guidelines.
Lewis Landerholm, founding partner of Pacific Cascade Legal, says divorcing parents also need to understand the difference between obligor and obligee and gross income and net income.
“The obligor is the parent who is ordered to pay the child support, while the obligee is the parent who receives child support,” Landerholm explains. “It’s also important to understand the difference between gross income and net income. Gross income is a person’s total income, before taxes and deductions, and is a key factor in calculating child support. Net income is your take-home pay—the amount of income after taxes and deductions.”
What If You Don’t Pay Child Support?
What happens if you are late or skip child support payments?
“Late or skipped child support payments can have serious consequences,” says Marina Shepelsky, managing partner at Shepelsky Law Group. “These may include wage garnishment, interception of tax refunds, suspension of driver’s or professional licenses, and even jail time. It’s important to stay current with payments to avoid these penalties.”
When Will Child Support Payments Finish?
How long do child support payments continue?
“Child support payments typically continue until the child reaches the age of 18 or graduates from high school, whichever is later. In some cases, payments may continue if the child has special needs or if the parents agree to extend support for college expenses,” Shepelsky says.
Divorce is a challenging time for all families. Establishing child support payments is just one of the key factors in a divorce.
“If you’re going through a divorce proceeding, remember: Be patient. Keep your eye on the prize,” Shepelsky says. “Some divorces take years to complete! There may be a lot of issues to resolve, from custody, parenting plan, and visitations to the complex financial issues of child support. Find a solution that sets your children up safely and securely, including their finances and emotional well-being.”
The Bottom Line
Divorce is a difficult time, and child support payments are important financial components. With child support payments, one parent pays financial assistance to the other parent for the upbringing of a child. Child support is based on a number of factors, including both parents’ gross incomes, the costs of raising a child, and a child’s medical expenses.
Child support payments last until the child turns 18 or graduates from high school. Some parents choose to extend child support payments to help meet college expenses. Having a special needs child is another reason why parents may choose to extend child support payments.
By targeting these nations with tariffs, Trump is going after the bulk of U.S. imports
A global trade war has been brewing for weeks. And just a few days from now – on Wednesday, April 2 – it’s about to heat up in a major way.
That’s the day that U.S. President Donald Trump is set to launch a new set of sweeping reciprocal tariffs against our nation’s trading partners.
This ongoing drama could end with a fizzle – with the parties involved reaching a solid deal – or a bang – wherein hefty tariffs remain in place and weigh down our global economy.
Trump has referred to it as “Liberation Day.” From his perspective, these tariffs will free America from its numerous bad trading deals with countries across the globe.
Recent reporting suggests Trump will target the “Dirty 15” on Wednesday – the 15 trading partners with which the U.S. has the largest bilateral trade deficits. That may seem small, as the U.S. does business with over 100 countries. But together, those 15 partners account for more than 75% of all U.S. imports.
So, by targeting these nations with tariffs, Trump is going after the bulk of America’s imports.
There are three ways Trump can go after the “Dirty 15.”
First, he can enact “matching tariffs,” wherein he would simply enforce levies on countries to close the tariff rate differentials. For example, let’s say a country tariffs the U.S. at 5%, but the U.S. only tariffs that country at 2%. With a matching tactic, Trump would slap an additional 3% tariff to match the overall rate at 5%.
Second, Trump could attack value-added taxes (VATs). These are indirect taxes imposed on goods and services at each stage of production or distribution, rather than just at the point of final sale. Europe has a lot of VATs, and they tend to hit U.S. goods going into European markets. Trump could attack these by exacting new tariffs on countries equal to their VAT rate.
Third, Trump could pursue non-tariff measures. That is, across the world, there are a lot of regulatory statutes that limit free and fair trade, such as country-specific sanitary standards, quotes, licensing obligations, etc. This is a complex web, but Trump could aim to alter these measures as well.
Those are the three major ways Trump can go after the “Dirty 15” on Wednesday.
Measuring the Possibilities
To us, options one and two – matching tariffs and attacking VATs – seem most likely since Trump has talked about them often since taking office.
According to recent research from Bloomberg, matching tariffs wouldn’t be too big a deal because the U.S doesn’t get tariffed that much. They would only increase the average tariff rate by one to two points, minorly impact GDP growth, and barely raise inflation. It would be more of a non-event.
Option two, however, would cause some damage. Attacking VATs on the “Dirty 15” would increase the average tariff rate by a little more than 10 points, per Bloomberg research. This would hit GDP growth by almost two points, while raising inflation by about a point.
That’s not good – but it’s also not terrible.
Now… if the president chooses option three, things could get pretty grim.
Attacking non-tariff measures could potentially increase the average tariff rate by nearly 30 points, spiking it to levels not seen in over 100 years. Subsequently, that would hit GDP growth by four points and raise inflation by two to three points.
And we don’t have a clear idea about which path Trump will take on Wednesday.
The Final Word on the Potential Trade War
As we said earlier, we think options one and two are most likely, while option three is not.
But who’s to say? If the first two months of Trump 2.0 has taught us anything, it is to prepare for the unexpected.
And here, the unexpected just may plunge the global economy into a recession…
This defensive guide includes our top 10 favorite stock market plays to protect and potentially even grow your wealth if this global trade war spirals out of control.
And with “Liberation Day” fast-approaching, we think you’ll want to check it out ASAP.
On the date of publication, Luke Lango did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article.
P.S. You can stay up to speed with Luke’s latest market analysis by reading our Daily Notes! Check out the latest issue on your Innovation Investor or Early Stage Investor subscriber site.
March employment data is expected Friday, with job openings and private-sector payrolls scheduled for earlier in the week.
Trade is also in focus, with new policy announcements expected Wednesday and other tariffs set to take effect starting Thursday. The latest update on the U.S. trade deficit, along with factory orders data and manufacturing and services sector surveys, is also expected.
Corporate earnings scheduled this week include food sellers Conagra Brands and Lamb Weston, clothing retailers Guess and PVH Corp., and furniture store RH.
March employment data is on tap this week, but investors and other market watchers may be watching other events coming out of Washington even more closely.
A slew of new trade policies could be outlined on Wednesday, while some of President Donald Trump’s previously outlined tariffs are set to take effect early Thursday morning. As the president’s plans have evolved in recent weeks, markets have been roiled. An update to the U.S. trade deficit is also expected Thursday, and investors will be watching factory orders data and manufacturing and services sector survey updates during the week to look for impacts from U.S. tariff policies amid continued market volatility.
Market watchers also will be following the corporate earnings calendar, which includes food sellers Conagra Brands (CAG) and Lamb Weston (LW), clothing retailers Guess (GES) and Calvin Klein parent PVH Corp. (PVH), and furniture store RH (RH).
Monday, March 31
Chicago Business Barometer (March)
Loar Holdings (LOAR) and PVH Corp. are scheduled to report earnings
RH, UniFirst (UNF), and BlackBerry (BB) are scheduled to report earnings
Thursday, April 3
Initial jobless claims (Week ending March 29)
U.S. trade deficit (February)
S&P U.S. Services PMI (March)
ISM Services PMI (March)
Conagra Brands, Acuity (AYI), Lamb Weston, and Guess are scheduled to report earnings
Friday, April 4
U.S. employment report (March)
Fed Chair Jerome Powell is scheduled to speak in Arlington, Virginia
Spotlight on March Employment Numbers, U.S. Trade Policy and Data
The latest employment data for March, expected trade news, and manufacturing and services sector data are in focus this week as investors continue to eye the impact that U.S. tariffs may have.
Investors will be watching Friday’s scheduled jobs report amid continued strength in the labor market, which the Federal Reserve cited when it decided not to lower interest rates at its March meeting. Job growth in February came in short of expectations, and unemployment ticked slightly higher to 4.1%, but last month showed that momentum continued in the labor market despite the headwinds of high interest rates.
Job openings data, expected on Tuesday, the ADP private-sector hiring report, scheduled for Wednesday, and Thursday’s calendar item of weekly initial jobless claims are other employment-based economic indicators that market participants will be following this week.
Wednesday will be a big day for trade policy as President Trump is expected to unveil his plan for reciprocal tariffs and provide more details on other policies. Some previously outlined tariffs are set to take effect early Thursday morning. You can keep track of all of the tariff proposals and implementation here.
An update to the U.S. trade deficit comes amid market tensions over Trump’s tariff policies, which threaten to add costs and invite retaliatory taxes in response.Recent trade balance data showed that the U.S. trade gap with its trading partners was growing ahead of expected import taxes.
Factory orders data on Wednesday follows last week’s report that durable goods orders were on the rise. Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) survey data scheduled to be released this week will show whether the struggling manufacturing sector is picking up in light of Trump’s proposed tariffs.
Clothing, Food, Furniture Sellers’ Earnings Reports Come as Investors Watch Consumer Health
With consumer confidence wavering, scheduled earnings reports from retail and food companies will likely provide investors with some insight into the public’s appetite for spending and the impact of potential U.S. tariffs.
Investors will be looking for consumer spending trends in the scheduled reports on Monday from clothing maker PVH Corp., whose brands include Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, and from Guess on Thursday.
Food sales are also in focus this week, with frozen dinner maker Conagra Brands and potato seller Lamb Weston both scheduled to report on Thursday.
Conagra, whose products include Duncan Hines mixes, Healthy Choice prepared meals, and Birds Eye frozen vegetables, recently warned investors that its sales could be lower due to difficulties sourcing enough chicken and frozen produce.
Furniture retailer RH, formerly known as Restoration Hardware, is scheduled to report Wednesday after it raised its full-year outlook and swung to a profit last quarter, despite contending with a weak housing market.
From cloud HR to 3D-printed propellers: Meet the future of AI…
Tom Yeung here with your Sunday Digest.
On Wednesday, OpenAI launched a new AI image generator for ChatGPT.
The system has noticeably few guardrails. Users can ask it to make photorealistic images of celebrities… edit existing images… even trick it into violating copyright laws. Social media feeds have become flooded with AI-generated memes in the style of Studio Ghibli, the popular Japanese animation studio behind films like Spirited Away.
OpenAI’s newfound “creative freedom,” as its CEO Sam Altman put it, is a response to growing competition from fast-moving AI outfits like Elon Musk’s Grok and China’s DeepSeek. These smaller firms care far less about ruffling feathers than getting ahead, forcing larger players to do the same.
Even Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL), a company known for its conservative approach to AI, has begun launching semi-complete products to keep up. (Google’s own AI image generator can be used to remove watermarks.)
This is obviously concerning for those worried about AI ethics and safety…
Amazon.com Inc.’s (AMZN) Alexa+ AI devices will have control over smart home devices, including thermostats and cooking ranges.
Alphabet’s Gemini AI will soon replace its traditional Google Assistant, giving AI virtually unfettered access to people’s private information.
We’re even seeing the development of AI-powered weapons that can shoot drones out of the sky.
(Will road-raging self-driving cars be next?)
But the flip side of AI innovation is that it’s creating staggering amounts of new benefits for companies that use AI, their customers, and their investors.
Dozens of AI-developed drugs are now in late-stage development.
Students can get free homework help from AI chatbots.
And hundreds of AI companies have turned thousands of investors into millionaires.
Shares of Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) have surged nearly 2,500% since May 2019 after InvestorPlace Senior Analyst Louis Navellieradded the GPU maker to his Growth Investor Portfolio… saying “AI, is what has me really excited about NVIDIA right now.”
We’re only getting started.
In a new special VIP report, The Next 3 Big Winners in AI, Louis, along with fellow senior InvestorPlace analysts Eric Fry and Luke Lango, cover why we’re now moving from an “AI Builders” era to an “AI Appliers” era – and pinpoint three industries that are undergoing this groundbreaking change:
The first wave of the AI Revolution was focused on the “AI Builders” – the chips, servers, and infrastructure that make AI possible. But the companies that leverage AI to disrupt traditional industries will deliver the next generation of extraordinary returns. We call these companies the “AI Appliers.”
Our three top analysts put that VIP report out as part of their recent urgent Technochasm briefing. During that free broadcast, Eric, Luke, and Louis went deep onthe emerging divide between the “haves” and “have nots” in the market – and in our society.
And on how artificial intelligence is pouring jet fuel on that divide.
During the event, they delivered a step-by-step playbook you need to follow to make the most of this opportunity.
Now, I’ve been given permission to share the three stocks in that VIP report.
These are firms that learned to harness the often uncontrollable power of AI. And as the tech world puts their collective foot on the R&D gas, we’re going to see these firms surge ahead.
Stock No. 1: Powering the AI Revolution
The first recommendation is a leader in power management chips – the devices that regulate the electricity fed into other integrated circuits.
It’s an essential task. Spikes in voltage or current can damage or destroy processors, and the risks only grow when more transistors are packed tightly into advanced chips.
That’s where Monolithic Power Systems Inc. (MPWR) comes in.
In the late-1990s, the Seattle-based company developed a single (i.e., monolithic) integrated power chip that combined analog, digital, and memory components onto a single device. This technology, known as bipolar-CMOS-DMOS (BCD), is now in its sixth generation and remains the core of Monolithic Power’s competitive edge.
Monolithic’s focus on BCD technology has worked. The company has grown into a $30 billion firm and is a leading supplier of power chips to data centers, particularly those focused on AI. MPWR also has a strong presence in autonomous vehicles and driver-assisted technologies, where reliability is key.
In fact, the company raised its guidance during its 2025 investor day on March 20. Management now expects $635 million in first-quarter revenues (up from $625 million) and for adjusted operating profits to come in roughly $10 million higher than previously expected.
Analysts expect growth to remain strong. Current Wall Street forecasts call for another round of 40% growth in revenues this year, and for full-year operating earnings to almost quadruple to $880 million. That’s because the company is at the forefront of both the data center and “physical AI” trends.
AI-powered devices like robots, self-driving cars, and security systems will become increasingly prevalent, and all these devices will need the type of power chips that Monolithic provides. So will the data centers that run these devices.
Of course, broader macroeconomic fears have affected MPWR stock. Shares of the firm have fallen 15% since February on growing concerns over U.S. tariffs on imported vehicles; MPWR generates roughly 20% of its revenues from the automotive sector. This comes on top of a 30% selloff last October after investment firm Edgewater Research warned that Monolithic’s allocation to Nvidia’s Blackwell chips might be affected by quality issues. (So far it has not.)
So, shares now trade at just 20X forward earnings – well below those of other chipmakers.
That makes Monolithic Power a rare combination in the AI world: a high-growth innovator trading at a value price.
Stock No. 2: The Human Factor
This company’s life began after database firm Oracle Corp. (ORCL) made a hostile takeover bid in 2003 for PeopleSoft, a human resource management system. After a two-year battle, the smaller firm eventually agreed to the takeover, and Oracle would go on to cut 5,000 of their 11,000 employees within a month of the early 2005 acquisition.
So began Workday Inc. (WDAY), a cloud-based human resource management company founded by jaded former PeopleSoft executives.
“We didn’t go overboard trying to be profitable,” former PeopleSoft CEO David Duffield later recalled in an interview with Bloomberg. “We earned our profitability from having our employees be happy working hard, loving what they do, and our customers loving what we did for them, and telling others about us.”
Duffield would become the founder and CEO of Workday.
The result was the first-ever cloud-native human capital management (HCM) platform. Users could log into Workday’s management system from any device, anywhere in the world, and access the same high-quality software as they would in the office. Workday customers do not have to worry about updates, security patches, hardware, or storage because everything is managed in the cloud.
That’s turned Workday into the largest HCM company in its class. The firm now serves more than 60% of Fortune 500 companies, and its flexible software allows it to cater to medium and small businesses as well.
That’s why rapid improvements in AI will have an outsized impact on Workday. The firm’s cloud-based approach means new AI products can be immediately rolled out to existing customers, and the required AI computing power can be offloaded to the cloud.
For instance…
Recruiting. Workday has products that can assist in reducing manual tasks for recruiters, including automated screening large volumes of job applications and creating new job requisitions. The firm also offers Workday Skills Cloud, which uses AI and machine learning technology to suggest the right job skills for particular roles.
Talent management. Workday Skills Cloud (the same one used for recruiting) can also be used to keep track of internal skills, which can be used to suggest individualized gigs, mentors and opportunities for internal mobility.
AI assistant. Finally, the firm has developed products like Workday Assistant and Workday Peakon Employee Voice to help across routine HR and finance tasks. Users can ask questions using natural language and receive quick answers based on the context of their role, location, and needs.
The recent market selloff now provides an unusually attractive entry point for Workday. Shares trade at just 29 times forward earnings, compared to its five-year average of 47X. Much like Monolithic Power, Workday is a fast-growing AI applier trading at an excellent price.
Stock 3: The “Amazon” of Manufacturing
For years, 3D printing companies have struggled to turn a profit. There were too many firms (over 1,000 by one count), and they were stuck selling to a market that did not exist.
Large mass producers consume vast amounts of raw materials, so they cannot afford the high prices of the metal powders and specialty resins that 3D printing requires. Meanwhile, smaller players that produce custom parts often cannot afford the high upfront cost of 3D printers.
Xometry Inc. (XMTR) is beginning to solve that issue.
Rather than sell 3D printers, Xometry sells the service of 3D printing. Users can log onto the company’s website, upload designs, and receive instant quotes for the number of units they need produced. Xometry then handles the rest without its customers ever seeing a 3D printer.
At the core of this business is an AI-powered marketplace that matches buyers of custom-manufactured on-demand parts with sellers that can produce them.
For instance, if a buyer wants a new 3D-printed propeller for a flying drone, they can upload engineering schematics to Xometry’s website. The design is then automatically analyzed and matched with a producer willing and able to make the product. Price quotes happen instantaneously.
That’s turned Xometry into an incredible growth story. Revenues have surged from $80 million in 2019 to $545 million in 2024. It remains on track to reach $1 billion by 2028.
As for AI… several trends are converging to help Xometry continue its growth.
The first is the company’s AI-powered system itself. The company has continued to improve on its matching algorithms, which has helped push gross margins higher. The firm is increasingly able to pair buyers with lowest-cost producers, allowing it to take a larger cut in between.
The second is improvements in AI modeling. Generative AI can now improve age-old products like shock absorbers and bicycle pedals, and 3D printing is often required to bring these structures to life.
The final point is more long term. As Eric, Louis, and Luke explain in their special report, global manufacturing is shifting toward AI-driven, on-demand production, and Xometry is perfectly positioned to capture massive growth.
The AI Revolution Is Happening… Don’t Miss Out
In 2020, Eric, Louis, and Luke released a series of videos outlining a concept they called the “Technochasm.” This was a warning that technological progress would create an enormous divide across ordinary Americans.
On one side are the “haves,” or those who got in on the right side of history. These are the people who will benefit from innovations like AI, or invested early enough in these firms.
On the other side are the “have-nots,” or those on the wrong side of history. This unfortunate group will see their jobs replaced by AI… their portfolios crushed by firms like Nvidia… and end up getting left behind.
Fortunately, these three picks tell us that the AI Revolution is still only getting started. So, even you didn’t invest in Nvidia in 2019, there’s still time to make up lost ground. (And if you’re one of the lucky ones who did, then you know how important it is to keep staying ahead.)
That said, we all know that traders are now rotating into “safe haven” assets like gold, while turning their back on the high upside promise of the market’s best AI plays.
The upshot is that when markets bounce back, fundamentally superior AI stocks will mount an equally strong rise.
That’s exactly the sort of stocks that Eric, Luke, and Louis are talking about in their new Technochasm briefing.
So, if you missed out on the big gains from AI stocks since 2023, this is a rare “second chance” to get in on some of the most innovative companies in the world. In fact, their latest batch of picks has triple-digit upside in just a handful of months.
That’s why Eric, Luke, and Louis just teamed up to deliver their urgent AI broadcast.
In it, they reveal why nearly a trillion dollars of new investments could soon flood two little-known corners of the AI Revolution… how it could accelerate the lucrative AND destructive force behind the Technochasm… and what you need to do to prepare (and profit).
I urge you to check out their conversation before it’s too late.
Thomas Yeung is a market analyst and portfolio manager of the Omnia Portfolio, the highest-tier subscription at InvestorPlace. He is the former editor of Tom Yeung’s Profit & Protection, a free e-letter about investing to profit in good times and protecting gains during the bad.
Shares in CoreWeave, a cloud computing company backed by Nvidia, ended their first trading session right at their IPO price following a $1.5 billion initial public offering.
Shares of CoreWeave, now on the Nasdaq under the ticker CRWV, opened at $39 Friday, below its IPO price of $40 per share.
The IPO was the largest in the U.S. since the $1.75 billion listing by LNG exporter Venture Global in January, according to Dealogic.
Shares in CoreWeave (CRWV), a cloud computing company backed by Nvidia (NVDA), ended their market debut flat following a $1.5 billion initial public offering that priced below its expected range.
Shares of CoreWeave opened at $39 Friday. It ended the day at $40, its IPO price, trading as high as almost $42 and as low as around $37.50.
The company’s IPO pricing lagged the expected range of $47 to $55 per share. CoreWeave, which makes money by providing its clients with access to data centers, had also cut the deal’s size, selling 37.5 million shares, fewer than the 49 million previously anticipated.
Data centers are used to develop artificial intelligence models. The company, which relies on Microsoft (MSFT) for a large portion of its sales, also depends on Nvidia chips for its business.
The IPO was the largest by a tech firm in the U.S. since the $5.2 billion offering by chip designer Arm Holdings (ARM) in September 2023, according to Dealogic, and the largest in the U.S. since the $1.75 billion listing by LNG exporter Venture Global in January.
CoreWeave was founded in 2017 as a crypto miner before pivoting to selling cloud infrastructure.
This article has been updated since it was first published to reflect fresh trading data.
Federal Reserve officials said this week that they are wary of tariffs’ effect on the economy and are waiting to see how they turn out before adjusting monetary policy.
Tariffs could push up prices, stoking inflation, but also could drag down the economy, hurting the job market.
Both risks would call for opposite responses from the Fed, which can boost the economy or throw sand in its gears by adjusting the fed funds rate, which affects borrowing costs.
The economy’s trajectory largely depends on how President Donald Trump’s tariff-raising spree turns out, according to Federal Reserve officials who made public remarks this week.
In various public appearances, a half-dozen Federal Reserve policymakers said they were keeping a close eye on Trump’s trade policies. Several predicted the president’s tariffs would stoke inflation, slow down the economy, or both. That would complicate the Fed’s job, a dual mandate to keep both of those forces at bay using monetary policy.
Fed officials have joined many other economists in predicting that Trump’s tariffs, intended to protect American businesses from foreign competition, would push up the cost of living and hammer household budgets. Trump announced a 25% tariff on imported cars this week and is planning another round of tariffs against numerous foreign countries on April 2.
“It looks inevitable that tariffs are going to increase inflation in the near term,” Susan Collins, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said Thursday at a fireside chat. “My kind of modal outlook would be that that could be short-lived with a continuation of some disinflation, but further in the future than I might have expected before. But there are risks around that, and depending on how things unfold, it may be more persistent and a larger increase.”
What Will the Fed Do With the Uncertainty?
The Fed typically has one major way to combat inflation: keeping its benchmark interest rate, the federal funds rate, high in order to push up rates on all kinds of loans and slow down economic activity.
Yet, financial markets are projecting the Fed will cut its benchmark interest rate three times this year to combat the lingering remnants of the post-pandemic surge of inflation. That’s according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, which forecasts rate movements based on fed funds futures trading data.
Forecasters are betting the Fed will be forced to cut rates later this year because of its other major mandate, which is to prevent a severe rise in unemployment. A slowdown in consumer spending could hurt the job market, a risk that Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari alluded to when speaking at an event in Detroit Wednesday. He commented on the plummeting levels of consumer confidence shown by recent surveys.
“It’s conceivable that the hit to confidence could be a bigger effect than the tariffs themselves,” he said.
Raphael Bostic, president of the Atlanta Fed, said he was keeping an eye on both risks in an interview on Bloomberg TV Monday. He said he expects inflation to remain stubborn this year and forecasts the Fed would only cut interest rates once. More tariffs from Trump could push him toward delaying rate cuts more, while a decline in consumer confidence or a rise in unemployment could bring about rate cuts sooner, he said.
Fed Governor Adriana Kugler, speaking to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington on Tuesday, noted that Trump’s trade policies were raising consumers’ inflation expectations.
“I am paying close attention to the acceleration of price increases and higher inflation expectations, especially given the recent bout of inflation in the past few years,” she said in prepared remarks.
Will Tariff-Related Inflation Be Temporary?
In theory, a tariff could be a one-time increase in prices and not necessarily increase inflation, which is, by definition, sustained price increases over time. In that case, the Fed could be safe ignoring it.
However, a jump in prices could affect individuals and businesses psychologically, and lead them to make decisions that push up inflation in the long term. Alberto Musalem, president of the St. Louis Fed, said he was concerned about that, speaking at a monetary policy event in Kentucky.
“I would be wary of assuming that the impact of tariff increases on inflation will be entirely temporary or that a full ‘look-through’ strategy will necessarily be appropriate,” he said, according to prepared remarks.
The multitude of uncertainties and risks makes predicting what the economy will do nearly impossible, Tom Barkin, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, said in a speech Thursday at Washington and Lee University. He compared the task of setting monetary policy under the current conditions to driving a car through the fog.
“With all this change, a dense fog has fallen,” he said, according to prepared remarks. “It’s not an everyday, ‘forecasting is hard’ type of fog. It’s a ‘zero visibility, pull over and turn on your hazards’ type of fog.”
Barkin said the Fed was unlikely to change interest rates until the fog began to lift.
Dogecoin thrived from being just a meme coin and currently sits in the top ten cryptos according to market cap. One crypto that top analysts are dubbing a DOGE alternative is set for a sharp rise to a 15780% surge. This is due to its focus on tangible world asset tokenization, which facilitates easy ownership of high-value assets such as real estate and gold. This DOGE alternative is Rexas Finance (RXS), and it has been making headlines with its fast-moving presale.
RXS Gains Momentum—Analysts Forecast a 15,780% Surge as June 19 Listing Nears!
Rexas Finance (RXS) is especially interested in real-world assets (RWAs) as it pursues its place in the cryptocurrency market. RXS’s distinctive feature is its ability to connect to physical assets such as gold and real estate, which makes it different from Dogecoin and other cryptocurrencies.
The fundamental purpose of RXS is to create a connection between digital cryptocurrency assets and physical tangible assets. RXS enables investors to access previously hard-to-reach markets by turning physical assets into digital tokens. Through this strategy, investors gain portfolio diversity, and the cryptocurrency space acquires new stability features while becoming more valuable. The RXS presale is in its last phase, Stage 12, where each token costs $0.200. Stage 12 is approaching its finish since investors have purchased 91.20% of the available tokens. The presale has reached $47,201,748 from its $56,000,000 funding goal by selling 456,006,452 tokens among the available 500,000,000 tokens. The project demonstrates strong potential through the substantial number of participating investors. RXS will initiate its stock listing at $0.25 on June 19th, 2025.
Positive analyst predictions have increased the public’s Interest in RXS. The analysts predict that RXS tokens will experience enormous price growth, which could result in a 15780% increase. The RXS cryptocurrency has met important milestones by getting listed on leading cryptocurrency data tracking systems. The blockchain security firm CertiK has provided an audit of RXS. The audit service establishes another security protection layer that builds investor trust through its verification of project security practices and integrity.
As Rexas Finance (RXS) continues to gain traction in the market, it represents an opportunity that shouldn’t be missed or ignored. Top analysts predict a staggering surge of 15780%. With its presale recording a high inflow as whales, institutional, and retail investors grab the tokens, savvy investors have a limited time to buy into the presale since less than 9% of the tokens are remaining for grabs.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions presented in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CoinCheckup. The content of this article should not be considered as investment advice. Always do your own research before deciding to buy, sell or transfer any crypto assets. Past returns do not always guarantee future profits.
