It’s not surprising given the greater than expected decline in U.S. first quarter GDP reported on Wednesday, which followed on the slump in consumer confidence reported Tuesday, that stocks in the consumer staples sector outperformed both consumer discretionary stocks and the market in general.
The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP) gained 0.63% on Wednesday, June 29. By contrast the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) lost 0.08%.
Among the best performing stocks on the day were Coca-Cola (KO), up 0.72%; PepsiCo (PEP), up 1.66%; Procter & Gamble (PG), up 0.91%; and Kimberly Clark (KMB), up 1.79%. Walmart (WMT) lost 0.37% on the day while Costco (COST) rose 0.26%.
For the day the Standard & Poor’s 500 lost 0.07%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average picked up 0.27%. The NASDAQ Composite slipped 0.03% and the small cap Russell 2000 dropped 1.12%.
