consumer staples

The first-quarter reporting season is done and dusted. And the tidings were mostly positive, evident from the strong run up in the major averages since the commencement of the first quarter reporting season, which is generally early-to-mid April. Market Warms To Reporting Season Since April 10,...

May has a bad reputation in terms of equity market performance, but history indicates stocks aren't dreadful in the fifth month year. There are ways for investors to remain long equities as summer kicks off and, not surprisingly, part of that prescription includes defensive, low beta sectors....

The consumer staples and utilities sectors have long been the favored destinations of defensive, income-minded investors. This is due to the higher dividend yields and lower volatility compared to other sectors. The downside of these sectors is that they aren't always great for short-term...

Among sector exchange-traded funds, the once hot Consumer Staples Select Sect. SPDR (ETF) (NYSE: XLP) is poised to end 2016 in decent, though not spectacular, fashion. With just a few trading days left in the year, XLP, once one of this year's best-performing sector ETFs, sports a year-to-date...

The Consumer Staples Select Sect. SPDR (ETF) (NYSE: XLP) and other traditional consumer staples exchange-traded funds have recently been scuffling on concerns that the sector is pricey on valuation and in anticipation of the Federal Reserve's first interest rate hike of 2016. The Fed proceeded...

After starting the year as one of the premier destinations for income investors, high-yield dividend stocks have recently been under pressure. Once beloved income-generating sectors, namely consumer staples and utilities, fell out of favor as financial markets priced in increasing chances of the...

The Consumer Staples Select Sect. SPDR (ETF) (NYSE: XLP), the largest consumer staples exchange-traded fund by assets, is up 6.4 percent year-to-date. That sounds pretty good until put into the context that XLP resides about 5.2 percent below its all-time high set in July and recently has shown...

After starting this year in fine form and leading the market higher through the first half of 2016, defensive sectors, such as consumer staples and utilities, have been taking drubbings over the past couple of months. Defensive Sectors: Recent Performance And Valuation Concerns From their most...

A common knock on low volatility exchange-traded funds is that these products are often heavily allocated to the consumer staples or utilities sectors or both. A common knock on those sectors, aside from criticisms regarding frothy valuations, is that those groups are inversely correlated to rising...

Defensive stocks and sectors have been in vogue this year, a theme that is benefiting the consumer staples sector in a big way. Among traditional sector exchange traded funds, the Consumer Staples Select Sect. SPDR (ETF) (NYSE: XLP) is one of the year's best with a gain of 11.2 percent. It's...

Deutsche Bank's Bill Schmitz has raised the price targets of consumer staples stocks, with three of the revised targets falling below the most recent trading price. Schmitz has raised the price targets of Colgate-Palmolive Company (NYSE: CL) by $2 to $75; Clorox Co (NYSE: CLX) by $4 to $134;...

Deutsche Bank likes consumer staples stocks given low rates, sustainable earnings algorithms, recent M&A bid and consistent — albeit low — growth. "Fundamentals remain tolerable, f/x headwinds are easing despite Brexit, commodities are benign and cash flow generation is strong...

Among the nine original sector SPDR exchange-traded funds, only two can top the Consumer Staples Select Sect. SPDR (ETF) (NYSE: XLP) on a year-to-date basis. XLP, the largest consumer staples ETF by assets, is up more than 10 percent year-to-date. That is just one data point, but it underscores...

Although stocks surged Monday, just 14 exchange-traded funds hit all-time highs. Indicating that conservative, lower beta fare is still in style, six of the seven sector ETFs that hit new highs Monday were consumer staples, telecom or utilities funds. Of the seven ETFs in the all-time high club,...