Shares of retailers and other consumer companies ticked up as traders hedged their bets on the implications of food inflation.
Food processor General Mills said it's raising prices across nearly all its grocery categories around the world, as the maker of Cheerios cereal and Betty Crocker cake mix cited the highest input costs in a decade. Shares of General Mills rose.
For retailers and consumer products companies, higher prices are likely to lead to higher earnings as long as wage growth is stable. In a sign that wage growth is set to pick up, an Automated Data Processing survey showed private employers added 692,000 workers in June, surpassing the increase of 550,000 predicted by a WSJ survey of economists.
Restaurant operator Ampex Brands agreed to buy bakery chain Au Bon Pain from European conglomerate JAB Holding's Panera Bread, a sign of franchisees' growing sway in the U.S. restaurant business.
Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
06-30-21 1719ET
