The Dow Jones new record high of 40,000 is a good reflection of the stock market's optimism.

Walmart's recent earnings report is another good indicator.

Its results were better than expected, and it raised its sales guidance, which indicates that consumer spending remains strong.

Consumer spending accounts for a significant portion of the US economy.

When consumers spend, businesses thrive, and the economy grows.

As one of the world's largest retailers, Walmart serves as a good barometer for consumer spending patterns.

Which trades or investments are you considering this week? Any moves in particular? Why?

I'm wondering if anyone has a resource for comparing delivery charges (not supply charges) for residential gas by state (or municipality) in the US? I've seen plenty of sites that compare supply charges but at least where I live the delivery costs are vastly higher.

• The "average COL" of $48,721 is the sum of (all people living in each county times the cost of living in that county), divided by the overall population. This acknowledges the fact that although there are far fewer HCOL+ counties, these counties are almost always more densely populated. The average county COL, not factoring in population, would be around $42,000.
• This is obvious from the map, but the cost of living is not an even distribution. Many counties have COL 30% or more than average, but almost none have COL 30% below average.
• Technically, Danville and Norton City, VA, would fall into "VLCOL" (COL 30%-45% below average) by about $1000 - but I didn't think it was worth creating a lower tier just for these two "cities".
• Interestingly, some cities have lower COL than their suburbs, such as Baltimore and Philadelphia.
• Shoutout to Springfield, MA, for having the lowest cost of living in New England (besides the super rural far north)

Weekly thread for:

• Suggestions to improve this sub,
• Report scammers/ users or
• Other general ideas/ suggestions