“Your observations are right on!” our first contributor says. “I have been a customer (and Board member) at Wells Fargo’s previous incarnations for over 70 years!

“What I see now bears no similarities to its predecessors. I am sufficiently disgusted that I plan to change banks… over$ 250,000 involved in CDs, savings and checking accounts. I know when I AM NOT WANTED!”

Until Americans vote with their feet, big banks -- including Wells Fargo -- will continue to take advantage of consumers. The conundrum for our reader: which bank will he turn to?

“The infrastructure in this country has been in decline for decades,” says another reader. “I feel that it is in dire need of fixing. Along with the obvious benefits, it would create a lot of jobs and add dollars to the economy.

“The money spent on infrastructure is better spent than all the money thrown away on keeping people out of work -- considering unemployment pays more now than one can earn at a job. Currently, that’s a huge disincentive to actually working for your money.”

While not entirely true in every instance, we take our reader’s point. But when the free money runs out… look out below.

Just this week, Biden asked Congress to extend the federal eviction moratorium; plus, we have U.S. Senators demanding up to $50,000 in student-loan debt forgiveness.

Do you ever get the feeling we’re just pushing back the pandemic’s inevitable economic crash?

Send your opinions to, TheRundownFeedback@StPaulResearch.com

Your Rundown for Friday, July 30, 2021...

DG’s Pandemic Expansion

Here at The Rundown, one of our favorite stocks is Dollar General. We’ve sung the company’s praises multiple times in the past.

Why do we like DG? Among discount retailers, Dollar General continues to deliver the goods, serving an underserved segment of the market, managing not only to survive but thrive as a brick-and-mortar retailer.

How did the company fare during the COVID-19 crisis? CEO Todd Vasos said last year: “We are the most relevant we have been in many, many years.” And this year, the company plans to open 1,000 new stores.

In fact, regardless of which way the economic wind blows (see above), Dollar General is a stock to own… In fact, it might be one of the best stocks to own in case of a market downturn.

That was only reinforced by the company’s July 7 announcement to shareholders and customers that Dollar General plans to “establish itself as a health destination.”

CNBC says: “Dollar General said… it has hired its first chief medical officer and will add products such as cold and cough medication and dental supplies to shelves.”

“Our goal is to build and enhance affordable healthcare offerings for our customers, especially in the rural communities we serve,” said Vasos.

To that end, the company hired “Dr. Albert Wu as its chief medical officer. He previously worked for McKinsey & Company, where he led a team that focused on… providing care to thousands of rural patients,” says CNBC.

In terms of the company’s stock this year, DG shares are up more than 20%, and they closed up over 1% Thursday.

In short, DG continues to be a great stock to recession-proof your portfolio.

Market Rundown for Friday, July 30, 2021

S&P 500 futures are 4380.75 this morning.

Oil will cost you $73.33 a barrel.

Gold sits at $1825.80.

Bitcoin is trading for 38,762.05, up almost 20% in the last 7 days. 

Send your comments and questions to, TheRundownFeedback@StPaulResearch.com

Have a wonderful weekend, and we’ll be back Monday.

For The Rundown,

Aaron Gentzler
Editor, The Rundown
TheRundownFeedback@StPaulResearch.com