The Daily Money: Parents skip meals, simple joys to feed their kids amid inflation

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Happy Tuesday, Daily Money readers. Jayme Deerwester back with you.

Walmart, Target foreshadow trouble for economy, stock market

Already-released earnings warnings from two retail stalwarts and others expected this week offer clues into whether a recession is in the cards, how fast it could come and what this could mean for the rest of the year, analysts said. 

Walmart and Target, back-to-back last week, reported lower-than-expected earnings due to a surprisingly quick shift in consumer spending and higher costs, including transportation and overstaffing.  

Walmart's results foreshadow "what could be a more challenging backdrop for others, and we see most risk ahead at lower-end below $50,000 household income level," said Oliver Chen, senior equity research analyst at Cowen.

Best Buy and Nordstrom report earnings on Tuesday, while Costco, Macy's, and Dollar General are all due Thursday.

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'I go hungry': Parents skip simple joys to feed their kids amid inflation

At least once a week during dinner, Cathy Smith and her husband, Robert, are confronted with the same choice: Don't let the kids have seconds or forgo a meal themselves.

“ I have growing children, and I want to make sure they have enough portions to nourish themselves,” says Smith, 40, a mother of five who works at an Atlanta-area school district as a recruiter. "It’s to the point that we have stopped buying cereal because milk is so expensive.”

American families, like the Smiths, who spend most of their income on necessities such as groceries, gas and rent are struggling as inflation, at 8.3%, remains near 40-year highs and consumer prices continue to surge.  

Last month, "food at home" prices jumped 11%, the largest 12-month increase since November 1980, according to data released by the Labor Department this month. The cost of gas remains high and shelter costs have been steadily creeping up.

While wages and salaries increased 5% for private sector employees amid worker shortages from March 2021 to March 2022, the nearly 20 million state and local government workers saw their wages go up by only 3%, according to the latest Labor Department’s Employment Cost Index.

🎧 Mood music 🎧 

Vampire Weekend's "Harmony Hall" came on during my drive to the dentist this morning and now I have a strong urge to rewatch "Ted Lasso" for like the fourth time.

"Anger wants a voice. Voices wanna sing.  Singers harmonize 'til they can't hear anything. I thought that I was free from all that questionin'.  But every time a problem ends, another one begins."

LISTEN WHILE YOU WORK: You can hear just about every song quoted in the newsletter on the Daily Money Mood Music playlist on Spotify.