Yahoo Finance

Historically meat-focused, Hormel Foods broadened its lineup to include other protein offerings and become a branded food company. The firm sells its wares through multiple channels, including US retail (62% of fiscal 2024 sales), US food service (32%), and international (6%). By product, 72% of fiscal 2024 sales were from perishable food and 28% from shelf-stable. Major brands include Hormel, Spam, Jennie-O, Columbus, Applegate, Planters, and Skippy. Many of these hold the number one or two market share in their respective categories.

Constellation is a global manufacturer and marketer of wine, spirits, and beer with a wide range of brands, including Clos du Bois, Ruffino, Robert Mondavi, Kim Crawford and SVEDKA vodka. The company also owns the rights to brew and market Modelo Mexican beers (including Corona) in the United States.

The U.S. economy is strong as we start both 2025 and a second Trump presidency. We expect to see that 4Q GDP rose 2.8% and 2024 GDP grew approximately 2.6%. At the beginning of 2024, we expected 1.7% growth for the year. We expected Personal Consumption Expenditures to average about 1.2%. The final tally could be 3%. The job market cooled but didn't freeze, and the Fed's well-telegraphed plans to cut short-term rates lead to a beneficial decline in long-term rates through the summer. While many consumers are still struggling with inflation, the wealthiest households are spending, bolstered by 2.4% unemployment for college graduates, a low, locked-in mortgage rate, and gains in their stock portfolio. Our optimism is tempered by the jump in the 10-year Treasury rate to 4.8% from 3.65% in September. Our 2025 forecast for U.S. GDP growth is 2.1%. The median estimate of Fed officials also is 2.1%. Our quarterly GDP estimates for 2025 are 1.7%, 1.8%, 2.3%, and 2.6%. Four indicators driven by a broad array of timely data support our assessment that the economy is healthy and growing. On January 9, the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta's GDP Nowcast was estimating 4Q growth of 2.7%. On January 10, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York's Staff Nowcast for 4Q called for 2.36% growth. The Weekly Economic Index tracked by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas is based on 10 daily and weekly indicators of consumer behavior, the labor market, and production. If, for example, an index value of 2% persisted for an entire quarter, the index would suggest that quarter's GDP would be 2% higher than a year ago. For the week ended January 4, the index was 2.01%, with a 13-week moving average of 2.18%. The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) looks at 85 indicators. It improved to -0.12 in November from -0.50 in September. The CFNAI Diffusion Index was unchanged at -0.31 in November. That all suggest the economy is growing slightly below average, but not contracting.

Nasdaq, we have a problem. Stocks started the year with some difficult sledding -- and the action after the nonfarm payrolls report blew away expectations (suggesting more near-term Fed stimulus may be a fading dream) was particularly awful. Now, insiders have weighed in. And ugh. The one-week sell/buy ratio from Vickers Stock Research for the NYSE has broken into negative territory, at 6.25 on a scale were anything above 6.00 is bearish. Last week, the ratio was 3.38. That's not great, but it is only a single week (so far). But the one-week ratio for the Nasdaq also moved into negative territory since last week - and it is here that we really take notice, as the current ratio is an eye-popping 15.57 compared to 4.54 last week. That is an ominous number under any circumstances, but we especially hate to see it just as earnings season is starting and with insiders mostly prohibited from trading for multiple weeks. Indeed, these ratios are not the 'final word' we wanted from corporate executives, directors, and beneficial owners. On a sector basis, insider buying was the greatest in the Industrials sector over the last week, with shares valued at $3.4 million bought versus $5.9 million sold for a sell/buy ratio of 1.8. The sell/buy ratio was also largely bullish in the Financial sector during the past week, coming in at 1.7 (although the overall value of transactions was lower than in the Industrials sector). Meanwhile, selling was the greatest in Information Technology over the last week, with shares valued at $186 million sold versus no shares bought. See above! This week, analysts at Vickers highlighted insider transactions of interest at CNX Resources Corp. (NYSE: CNX) and Broadcom Inc. (NGS: AVGO).