A critical sentiment indicator's slipping.
Have you bought toothpaste recently? Or perhaps recommended the purchase of America's largest toothpaste manufacturer, The Proctor & Gamble Co. ([[PG]])?
If you answered "yes" to either question, you've contributed to the slippage in a significant indicator of consumer - and investor - confidence. You see, PG is the largest component in the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF ([[XLP]]), an exchange-traded fund that also holds shares of Colgate-Palmolive Co. ([[CL]]), Kimberly-Clark Corp. ([[KMB]]) and Costco Wholesale Corp. ([[COST]]), and 29 others. These companies make or sell goods that you