Typically, when the economy enters a recession, companies that are in the consumer non-durable sector, i.e., consumer staples, see their stocks trade higher as money flows into bulletproof subsectors of the economy that don't suffer from spending cuts.
Companies like Proctor & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Heinz (NYSE: HNZ), Hormel (NYSE: HRL), Kraft (NYSE: KFT), General Mills (NYSE: GIS), Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ), Pepsi (NYSE: PEP), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB), Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE: CL) and even Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B), which was down a whopping 49% before getting a year-end bounce.
I think Warren needs to get off TV and get back to work.
My point here is that all of these fortress names got beat up to the tune of 30% to 50% when they were supposed to be the go-to names that would put in a stealth rally in a bear market.
Seems the kitchen and bathroom stocks didn't work this time around.
Bryan Perry is a contributor to OptionsZone.com.
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