Consumer Discretionary

But Information Technology rises to the top of the Domestic model, while the trend of Financials domination in the Global model remains intact.

• Read more

Our Domestic Scores have five Financials groups rating Attractive; these same five industry groups are Attractive in our Global model. In total, seven Financials groups rank Attractive in the Global model, with insurance groups looking particularly Attractive.

• Read more

With the notable exception of the Consumer Discretionary sector, cyclical stocks topped out globally on a relative basis in early 2011 (Chart 3). Throughout the last two and one half years, there have been repeated calls for industrial cyclicals—which were, of course, the leaders of the last cyclical bull market—to reassume stock market leadership.

• Read more

Health Care and Consumer Staples valuations don’t look as dangerous as widely assumed. Utilities look expensive; conversely, the big corrections in the Industrials and Materials sectors have yet to create truly compelling valuations. The best sector for contrarians is Energy.

• Read more

The Homefurnishing Retail group was purchased in the Select Industries Portfolio in late May.

• Read more

Select Industries portfolio has added new equity group holdings in Department Stores, boosting sector exposure in Consumer Discretionary.

• Read more

The game is now over for Discretionary, and this opinion is supported by the sector’s decline to the bottom of our GS Score ten-sector composite.

• Read more

A look at Asian valuations show China to be fairly valued (neither overvalued nor undervalued), but there are other attractive (cheap) ways to play consumer stocks in Asia.

• Read more

One of the great contrary trades in recent memory may well have been the Consumer Discretionary stocks during the last recession and early in the recovery. The consumer had been written off, but these stocks have been the clear market leader. It looks, however, like the move may be running out of steam.

• Read more

The “New Normal”, just like the late 1990’s “New Era”, will likely fade from popular jargon over time. Counter to “New Normal” reasoning, the Consumer Discretionary sector has demonstrated remarkable performance.

• Read more

While many consumer groups are seeing significant improvement in the GS Scores, careful selection is important as there are still several Discretionary groups rated Unattractive.

• Read more

Are we asking the wrong question about Consumer Stocks versus Staples? This month’s “Of Special Interest” looks at the relationship between all Consumer groups (both Discretionary and Staples) compared to Commodity related groups.

• Read more

Our view that the consumer is due for a pullback has been bolstered in recent months, as Consumer Discretionary groups have continued to slip in our Group Selection (GS) Score rankings.

• Read more

While we currently favor little to no allocation to Consumer stocks, we realize that many clients must maintain a substantial weight in the Consumer Discretionary sector. For those clients, we are proposing a new thematic stock market group this month: The Strapped Consumer.

• Read more

“Of Special Interest” section examines the likely demise of consumer spending power. Taking a lead from the GS Scores and other economic data, we believe that a significant underweight in areas that are particularly sensitive to consumer spending is a prudent strategy for now.

• Read more

An analysis of underlying factors that may be hindering the consumer groups, both “discretionary” and “staples,” from making a showing in our Attractive rankings.

• Read more

Using Breadth Dynamics to assess strength of small cap stocks versus large cap stocks within various broad market sectors: Health Care, Materials, Consumer Discretionary, and Energy.

• Read more