Consumer Staples

The Consumer Staples sector includes manufacturers and distributors of food, beverages and tobacco as well as producers of non-durable household goods and personal products. It also includes food & drug retailing companies as well as hypermarkets and consumer super centers.

The industries under this sector are:

• Beverages
• Food & Staples Retailing
• Food Products
• Household Products
• Personal Products
• Tobacco

Companies in the Consumer Staples sector are less sensitive to economic cycle because consumers are unwilling to cut these products from their budgets, no matter how good or bad the economy is. In general, companies in the Consumer Staples sector are one of the most defensive, which means they’re able to hold up or even advance during a recession, but tend to trail the market during the expansion stage.