staple

Owning more defensively oriented sectors with high dividend yields, such as healthcare, real estate, and consumer staples, offers protection as well.

It would be understandable if investors chose to stick with what’s working: simply rotating into more traditionally defensive sectors like consumer staples, utilities, and healthcare, rather than fixed income.

What’s Next: The administration is responding to consumer complaints about the high costs of staple items such as coffee and voter dissatisfaction with the economy.

Not surprisingly, many of these stocks are in sectors such as consumer staples, real estate, apparel and energy — all poor performers this year.

Consumer staples and utilities, typically viewed as defensive, recession-resistant sectors, declined.