Market Snapshot: Which Sectors Are Lagging Behind as Consumer Products and Services Struggle

The broader market is showing mixed performance on Monday, with Consumer Products and Services sectors both treading water at the opening bell. While most sectors are posting gains, these two particular segments are struggling to find momentum, revealing important patterns about what consumer-focused investors should watch.

Consumer Products Under Pressure: The Story Behind CPB and GIS

When examining consumer products performance, the data tells a concerning story. Two of the sector’s heavyweights—Campbell’s Company (CPB) and General Mills Inc (GIS)—are both experiencing significant headwinds on Monday, each down 2.6%. This weakness in major holdings signals broader challenges within the Consumer Products sector, which managed only a 0.1% gain during the session.

What makes this even more pronounced is the year-to-date trajectory. Campbell’s Company has declined 22.62% since the start of the year, while General Mills Inc has fallen 22.42%. These steep declines highlight persistent weakness in established consumer staples companies.

For investors tracking this sector through ETFs, the iShares U.S. Consumer Goods ETF (IYK) offers relevant exposure. Despite its year-to-date gain of 5.60%, the fund is down 0.9% on the current trading day. Within IYK’s holdings, CPB and GIS combined represent approximately 1.6% of the fund’s composition—a meaningful allocation that directly impacts the ETF’s performance.

Services Sector Shows Similar Weakness Despite Modest Gains

The Services sector is posting an equally lackluster 0.1% advance, with notable names failing to keep pace with broader market movements. Live Nation Entertainment Inc (LYV) is declining 2.7%, while Kroger Co (KR) is down 2.5%—both significant pullbacks that stand in contrast to their sector’s marginal gains.

The year-to-date picture is more nuanced here. Live Nation Entertainment Inc is down 1.88% over the period, suggesting consistent underperformance. In contrast, Kroger Co has gained 7.50% year-to-date, indicating that performance divergence exists even within the struggling Services sector.

The iShares U.S. Consumer Services ETF (IYC) is up 0.7% in current trading and shows a year-to-date return of 3.82%. Within this fund, LYV represents approximately 0.3% of total holdings—a smaller position than CPB and GIS represent in IYK, yet still influential for the fund’s daily moves.

The Broader Market Context: Nine Sectors Advancing

It’s important to contextualize Consumer Products and Services weakness against the full market landscape. Nine of the S&P 500’s major sectors are in positive territory on Monday, with Technology & Communications leading at +1.9%, followed by Healthcare at +1.2%.

The sector performance breakdown reveals:

• Technology & Communications: +1.9%
• Healthcare: +1.2%
• Utilities: +0.7%
• Industrial: +0.5%
• Financial: +0.3%
• Consumer Products: +0.1%
• Services: +0.1%
• Materials: +0.1%
• Energy: +0.1%

This distribution shows that Consumer Products and Services lag significantly behind growth sectors, suggesting investors are rotating toward technology and healthcare names. The fact that both Consumer Products and Services are barely positive—matching only Materials and Energy at the low end—underscores sector-specific challenges rather than broader market weakness.

What This Means for ETF Investors

For those using ETFs to gain exposure to consumer-focused companies, the current environment requires careful attention. Both IYK and IYC are showing resilience on a year-to-date basis despite Monday’s weakness, but the gap between ETF performance and the performance of their largest holdings—particularly in the Consumer Products space—suggests that diversification within these funds is providing some buffer against concentrated stock weakness.

The trailing twelve-month performance chart comparing these stocks and their respective ETFs would reveal that while individual large-cap stocks within Consumer Products and Services have faced headwinds, the broader ETF structures have helped mitigate losses through diversified holdings and strategic weighting adjustments.