JHMC News and Press, John Hancock Multifactor Consumer Discretionary From 06/16/22

AIER’s Leading Indicators Index returned to a neutral 50 reading in May, rising four points following an eight-point fall in April. While broad trends and risks continue, there are some signs of inflection in a few areas. The Roughly Coincident Indicators index fell back in...

Retail sales and food-services spending fell 0.3 percent in May following a 0.7 percent gain in April. Real total and real core retail sales are both well above prior trends. Overall, retail sales fell for the month and were dragged down by slower auto sales but remain well above ...

US retail sales were softer in May and there were downward revisions to April. Nonetheless, consumer spending can still grow strongly in the second quarter given a greater focus on services such as leisure and entertainment. However, the cost of living squeeze means households are...

As inflation surges, consumers are feeling the increased pricing pressures from all sides right now. The increased volatility and peak in oil prices seemed to take place as the end of an excess phase bubble was starting to unwind. Watching IYC move lower over the past 7+ months an...

Have we seen the worst of expectations for Fed hikes? Retailer discounting a driver in the rollover of inflation expectations. Beware of backward-looking earnings estimates. For further details see: Beware Of Backward-Looking Earnings Estimates

The year-over-year change in core CPI peaked in March and is coming down, albeit slower than we’d all like to see. The economy is slowing in some areas and inflation is still high but probably peaking. Bond yields are starting to look pretty attractive relative to stock div...

The broader retail space has been weak relative to the S&P 500 so far this year. On a YTD basis, the VanEck Vectors Retail ETF has underperformed the S&P 500 by 4.5 percentage points, trading down by 18.2% as of today. The market seems to believe that consumers will move d...

Lots of negatives have happened to the cruise line industry since the global pandemic of 2020. Now the rising fuel costs and the recession risks make many investors worry. But given the stock price, Norwegian Cruise Line does not look too risky to invest in right now. At the same ...

Despite the pandemic impact, Bright Horizons remains a quality business with a particularly sticky customer base. Signs of a fundamental recovery are emerging within the core business, while international expansion efforts are progressing well. The stock has de-rated amid the pand...

In this article, I give you my opinion on one of the highest yields in the consumer sector, Hanesbrands' 5.1% yield. The company is the ultimate value stock due to very low growth, but very high cash generation used to service Hanesbrands' high dividend yield and reduce debt. HBI ...