Last week, Wal-Mart (WMT) surprised the market with exceptionally strong results, notably the 50% surge in online sales which followed a similar number the quarter before. The soaring internet sales are the culmination of a strategy to…
Highlights Broad Chinese equity market performance since last month's Party Congress is consistent with our view that the pace of reforms over the coming year will not cause a meaningful deceleration in China's industrial…
The S&P household products index story in 2014-15 was that a firm U.S. dollar had sapped top-line growth from the key export market and a turnaround in the former would provide a lift in the latter. While that thesis has proven…
This week has seen the beleaguered packaged foods index finally catch a bid, driven by exceptional earnings at two of the larger constituents, MDLZ and K. Both highlighted organic volume growth and a better pricing backdrop as the key…
Underweight This summer, we downgraded the S&P soft drinks index to underweight based on a collapse in beverage shipments and its high correlation with relative performance. That decline has since accelerated but even lower…
Overweight This year has been a tough one so far for the S&P packaged foods index. A relative decline in stock prices seems counterintuitive in the context of a surge in manufacturers' shipments and pricing power pulling…
Neutral Wal-Mart's (WMT) second quarter earnings provided some insight into a retail landscape that is in the midst of upheaval at the hands of Amazon. While a still-strong consumer (second panel) helped drive a 1.8% same-store…
Negative relative sales growth at retail drug stores has caused the S&P retail drug store index to underperform (top and second panels). However, the second derivative of the decline has turned positive, troughing early this year,…
Highlights Key Portfolio Updates Synchronized global economic growth is driving real yields higher and boosting equities (Chart 1). Meantime, core inflation remains muted which will ensure that Fed policy stays sufficiently…