Sexy Staples?
One concern many have, which is valid, is the emergence of some of the defensive groups recently. Over the last one-month period, some of the best performing major S&P sectors are conservative in nature. Real estate is the strongest, and 2 of the other top 5 are utilities and consumer staples. The staples are running neck and neck with technology, with the XLP and XLK both higher by more than 7% (to be fair on a YTD basis consumer staples are the last of 11, albeit still higher by almost 3%). Last week the XLP fell by .9%, ending a 4-week winning streak that added a respectable 8%, all CLOSING at highs for the WEEKLY range and in above-average volume, for a space that traditionally is hard to get moving. Some of the more traditional areas of the staples are sporting winners with SAM and MO acting well. SAM found good CLOSING support near the very round 1000 number in its current cup base, and MO is looking like its bull flagging just above to 50 figure. If nothing more if technology can find its footing, perhaps staples will round out a nice barbell approach for investors.