Overweight S&P consumer staples overall, and the S&P household products sub index in particular, have underperformed the market for much of the past year as their defensive nature has been left behind by their more cyclical…

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…

Highlights Portfolio Strategy The rally in the S&P restaurants index has run its course and a profit recovery is fully discounted. Lock in profits and downgrade to neutral. Intensified inter-industry competition, the onslaught of…

The sudden economic exuberance following the Trump election victory has caused a flight out of traditional safe havens that looks to have gone too far. For instance, consumer products stocks (household products, beverages and packaged…

Consumer products stocks are likely to move to an even larger valuation premium before the cyclical outperformance phase ends.

Household product stocks are gathering momentum relative to the broad market. We expect this trend to persist as profit margins slowly improve. The industry has undergone a forced retrenchment as a consequence of the strong U.S. dollar…