S&P 500 scorecard today: 1 up, 499 down

Let’s hope this isn’t telling us that the next bull market will be in soup kitchens.

The only stock to rise in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index today was . . . Campbell Soup Co., which edged up 12 cents to $37.75.

On days like this investors often find refuge in stocks of companies that make the basic, low-priced things we need to live. The reasoning is that even if the markets are melting down, and the economy will soon follow, we all still gotta eat, drink and (hopefully) use deodorant.

Personal-care products giant Procter & Gamble slid $2.09, or 3%, to $66.75, but that was far less painful than the 8.8% drop in the S&P 500 index overall.

The so-called consumer-staples sector of the S&P index held up best today, with a 4.2% decline. The S&P’s worst-performing sector: financial stocks, which plunged 16%. That left the financials down 39% year to date, compared with a 24.6% drop for the S&P 500 and a modest 7.2% loss for the consumer-staples group.

Another place you could have found refuge today, relatively speaking: shares of Hormel Foods Corp., which slipped just 13 cents to $36.25.

Hormel’s most famous product: Spam.

The perfect complement to soup?

Photo credit: Stefano Paltera / Los Angeles Times

Comments

[ddaid]

I'm very surprised not 1 comment from readers. Their all in the blog congratulating their Congressman voting NO on the "recapitalization" i.e. "bailout" bill. They should be here reading of what may be to come. Hope there will be crackers with the soup ?

[Ken Switzer]

Have you checked the prices lately of Campbell's soups? My money is on whoever makes Top Ramen if we're all going to be poor.

[Amy Trafton]

Eh, I'm already living the recession so I'm not afraid of it lasting longer. I've re-learned how to make nostalgic casseroles my mother learned from her mother, ironically all of which are based on Campbell's cream or broth soups. I shocked myself buying a $2.50 can of SPAM that I prepared Hawaiian-style with fried egg, fried brown rice, peas and pineapple--each serving was less than $1.

Living on unemployment is hard, but with every loss comes a kind of freedom. I don't go to work every day so in between sending resumes I can do whatever I want. Yeah, it'd suck to lose my place, but that would just be $800 less I have to worry about each month as I wander on. I believe we have progressed beyond the potential for starvation--the most I can be deprived of are things I took for granted and probably never 'needed.'

When the economy is done contracting, it will be poised to grow in a direction that is both economically and environmentally sustainable. Temporary economic hardship cannot take away our talented, educated population or our vast natural resources; but it may result in a more efficient, effective, and sustainable use of these resources in the end. I believe this is a future worth a little bit of sacrifice, so I'll eat my SPAM happily and try not to dwell on memories of when chicken breast was not a luxury.

[Jeff Hansen]

Ok here is the problem: I'm tired of people trying to separate Wall St. from Main St. They are tied together more than ever. From your house, to you job. Everything. USD expert Kathy Lien had a great piece on how Wall St. is hurting Main St. on greenfaucet today.

http://www.greenfaucet.com/the-market/5-ways-that-wall-streets-mess-hurts-main-street/89122