FSTA News and Press, Fidelity MSCI COnsumer Staples Index From 08/18/21

My reading of the current environment is relatively clear; both the longer term and shorter-term leading growth indicators are pointing toward the heightened possibility of slowing cyclical growth. As a result, these downward trends suggest investors ought to be rotating out of the re...

Retail sales fell by 1.1% in July from June, as reported by the Census Bureau, with drops in sales reported across a wide variety of merchandise categories. While the contraction in retail sales was much larger than investors anticipated, we might have expected consumers to pull back ...

Retail sales and food-services spending fell 1.1% in July, the second drop in the last three months. Core retail sales, which exclude motor vehicle dealers and gasoline retailers, posted a 0.7% decline for the month, leaving that measure with a -0.1% annualized growth rate but a 13.8%...

As U.S. retailers and restaurants report Q2 2021 earnings, the bulk of them will be facing the easiest comparisons from a year ago, when the government required brick and mortar stores to close. The Refinitiv U.S. Retail and Restaurant Q2 earnings index is expected to rise by 143.0%. ...

AIER’s Leading Indicators Index posted a fourth consecutive small decline in July, falling to 75 from 79 in June. Real gross domestic product increased at a 6.5 percent annualized rate in the second quarter, up from a 6.3 percent pace in the first quarter. Total housing sta...

Capital expenditure expectations appear to have recovered from pre-pandemic levels in most major regions and are trending upwards according to analyst estimates. For the U.S. index, the 12-month forward capital expenditures estimate is currently $885.6 billion, up 13.8% year-over-year...

Year over year, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 4.2% in April, 5.0% in May, and 5.4% in June. Fading re-opening enthusiasm or the drying up of government stimulus checks could be factors in the sluggish growth numbers compared to prior month. Bond and equity markets indicated ...

While the economic growth rate is slowing, that is not a contraction or a recession. If that was the case, you’d see junk bonds selling off too, and that just isn’t the case - at least not yet. Our investment process puts a lot of emphasis on rates of change, whether mac...

Retail sales in June rose to $621 billion (seasonally adjusted), but after the 1.7% drop in May, remain below March and April. New & used auto dealers and parts stores' sales fell 2.0% in June, to $132 billion, seasonally adjusted. Ecommerce and other non-store retailers' sale...

When the markets goes on the make a new high and all economically sensitive sectors such as these do not confirm the new high, it is a clear signal the new highs are not being supported by economic fundamentals. We are seeing significant bearish divergences in almost all measures of b...