VCR News and Press, Vanguard Consumer Discretion From 12/20/22

Summary Inflation continues to moderate, not only here, but also in Europe. Despite the negative economic reports and the reaction to the Fed rate hike, the US Dollar barely budged for the week. Value yet again outperformed Growth in the last week, this time by a spread of almost 1%...

Summary CPI rose only 0.1% in November and 7.1% in the past 12 months. The monthly CPI was lower than the economists’ consensus expectation of 0.3%, and that triggered a massive bond rally that caused Treasury yields to plummet. The Fed never fights market rates, so even thou...

Summary Total nominal retail sales and food-services spending rose 1.3 percent in October after being unchanged in September. From a year ago, retail sales are up 8.3 percent and remain well above the pre-pandemic trend. Nominal retail sales excluding motor vehicle and parts d...

Summary To date, 143 of the 204 companies in our Retail/Restaurant Index have reported their EPS results for Q3 2022, representing 70% of the index. Of those companies that have reported their quarterly results so far, 69% announced profits that beat analysts’ expectations,...

Summary The Refinitiv U.S. Retail and Restaurant Q3 earnings index, which tracks changes in the growth rate of earnings within the sector, is expected to show a weak 1.6% growth over last year’s levels. Even as higher food prices eat into spending power, consumers also have...

Summary In today's issue of the 1-Minute Market Report, I examine the market bounce since the October low, and highlight the areas of the market that are leading the way higher. On Thursday, for every stock that was down, there were 26 that were up. For the first time since August...

Summary Amazon’s global exposure is also being hit by macroeconomic issues as rising inflation continues to diminish the consumer’s purchasing power. The much-anticipated “Lord of the Rings” series did help subscription revenue rise to a new high in dol...

Summary Do corporate earnings disappointments signal a weaker economy and easing inflation pressures, which could end this scary market—or are there more twists to come? When we look in detail at last week’s disappointing third-quarter reports from five of the bigges...

Summary Mondelez International, the maker of Sour Patch and Cadbury chocolate, is on track to post stronger revenue than in the previous three years. Similarly, Hershey is on track to post stronger revenue compared to its pandemic and pre-pandemic levels. In collaboration with...

Summary The mismatch between supply and demand within the retail space has reversed in advance of this year’s holiday shopping season. Higher prices that retailers have successfully implemented since the pandemic are not going to reverse entirely. Higher inventory level...