FSTA News and Press, Fidelity MSCI COnsumer Staples Index From 05/03/22

Consumers continue to spend at a healthy pace. But will it last? Will consumer discretionary stocks get more love this year? Kim Parlee speaks to Jacky He, Global Consumer Discretionary Analyst, TD Asset Management, about the health of the consumer. For further details see: ...

We don’t see a wage-price spiral. Companies are actually paying less in labor per unit of output, we find. We think wages can rise more without adding to inflation. The S&P 500 plunged to new 2022 lows last week. We remain overweight equities in the inflationary backdrop bu...

Inflation and rising interest rates create an uphill journey for the consumer and the economy. Rising treasury yields, elevated inflation and slowing real economic growth are factors being watched by both equity and fixed income investors. Year-to-date, equity market volatility sp...

Only one major asset was up last week: REITs. There were some negative developments that might explain the selling. With the drop in commodities and fears about the impact of the China slowdown, the immediate effect should be for inflation and growth expectations to moderate. We didn&...

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, in an interview with the FT last week, said it is a “fantasy” to believe that the Fed can bring down inflation sufficiently without raising key interest rates to a level where they will constrain economic growth. The good news is th...

The GICS sector classification system will be making significant changes to its Consumer Discretionary and Consumer Staples sectors. The Internet & Direct Marketing Retail subsector is being discontinued and alternative subsectors are assigned to stocks currently listed in that se...

Retail sales and food-services spending rose 0.5 percent in March following a 0.8 percent gain in February. In real terms, total retail sales were down 0.7 percent (adjusted using the CPI). Categories were mostly higher for the month with ten up and three down in March. The gains ...

Bonds are hated right now and people want to believe yields will only go higher from here. Whether or not a recession will eventuate is not yet clear, but a material slowdown in growth is certainly what the leading indicators of the growth cycle are pointing to. The current inflat...

We examine reasons to consider VDC. We also examine why VDC isn’t the best option in the staples space. We conclude with some thoughts on the valuation and price action. For further details see: Is VDC A Buy, Sell, Or Hold Now?

AIER’s Leading Indicators Index partially rebounded in March, posting an 8-point rise following a 17-point drop in February and a 13-point gain in January. The latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey from the Bureau of Labor Statistics show the total number of job opening...