Consumer companies fell as Treasury yields remained near multiweek highs.
Arkhouse Management and Brigade Capital Management said they would appeal to other shareholders if Macy's does not respond to the $5.8 billion bid to buy the department-store chain, lodged late last year.
One reason for the volatility in consumer stocks is the volatility in the Treasury market early this year, said one strategist. "It's turbulence, bumping along, kind of like a bad flight," said J.D. Joyce, president of Houston financial advisory Joyce Wealth Management. "This is causing mortgage rates to also fluctuate."
Despite the ups and downs of Treasury yields, which are close to their 2024 highs but far below 2023 peaks, the average 30-year mortgage rate remains more than a percentage point below 2023 highs, said Joyce. "Mortgage rates have a disproportionate impact on the economy ... as housing sales increase due to lower mortgages, consumer spending tends to go up."
The University of Michigan's consumer-sentiment survey recently registered its biggest two-month gain since 1991. That may have been attributable, in part, to the "wealth effect" as stock prices and home prices rebound, said Joyce.
Kering, the owner of Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, agreed to buy 115,000 square feet of multi-level luxury retail spaces on New York City's Fifth Avenue for $963 million, expanding its retail locations in one of the world's most iconic avenues.
Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
01-22-24 1745ET
