Discretionary Statement:

One way investors like to look at overall “risk-on” appetite is through the lens of the ratio chart comparing the consumer discretionary space to the staples. As one can see the staples are clearly in favor. On a YTD basis, the XLY is lower by 31% while the XLP has slipped “just” 9%. Of course, the dividend yield is larger with the XLP coming in at 2.6%. Over the last one week period, a very small sample size, the XLY is higher by 2% as the XLP has gained 1%. There is plenty of work still to do for discretionary to become more attractive. TSLA will have an impact and it jumped 10% Tuesday and AMZN which recently split has to hold the very round par number. Some big staple players like top ten XLP holdings in KO and PM are bouncing off their rising 200-day SMAs. WMT rose more than 3% today, its largest such move since 2/17 although it is still 24% off most recent 52-week highs. Until proven otherwise overweight staples in your portfolio.

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