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J.M. Smucker is a packaged food company that primarily sells through the US retail channel (78% of fiscal 2024 revenue came through its retail pet foods, coffee, and frozen handheld/spreads segments), with the remaining share consisting of Hostess and international (primarily Canada). Retail coffee is its largest category (33% of sales) with brands Folgers and Dunkin’. Pet foods (22% of sales) holds leading brands like Milk-Bone and Meow Mix. Of its remaining, approximately 22% comes from consumer foods, primarily peanut butter and jelly, through brands Jif and Smucker’s. The company acquired Hostess Brands in fiscal 2024 to boost its snack and convenience store presence.

Following its split from the North American cereal business in October 2023, Kellanova (previously the global snacking arm of Kellogg) has operated as a leading global manufacturer and marketer of salty snacks, snack bars, frozen breakfast fare, meat alternatives, and other packaged foods. Its offerings are manufactured in around 20 countries and marketed in more than 180 countries. Its product mix includes well-known brands such as Pringles, Cheez-It, Rice Krispies Treats, Pop-Tarts, Eggo, Nutri-Grain, and Morningstar Farms. Sales beyond its home turf account for about half of Kellanova's consolidated sales base. Mars is slated to acquire the newly independent business in a nearly $36 billion deal in the first half of calendar 2025.

Mondelez International Inc., headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois, is one of two successor companies from the October 1, 2012 break-up of Kraft Foods. The company name was created by employees and is hybrid of the Latin word for world (mundus) and a modification of 'delicious.' The other company is called Kraft Heinz. Mondelez sells products in over 150 countries and has operations in approximately 80 countries and production facilities in 45 countries. The company regularly uses the term 'Power Brands,' to describe its largest global and regional brands. Under the biscuit banner, these include Oreo cookies, Chips Ahoy, Ritz crackers, and TUC/Club Social, belvita biscuits. The chocolate power brands include Cadbury Dairy Milk. The company has approximately 91,000 employees. The shares are a component of the S&P 500.

The S&P 500 couldn't hold 6,000 on Tuesday, finishing down a modest 0.3%, while the NYSE couldn't hold 20,000, dropping 0.8%. The Nasdaq, Nasdaq 100, and S&P 100 were flat. The larger losses came from recent leaders, with the S&P MidCap 400 falling 1% and the S&P SmallCap 600 dipping 1.5%. Has the fear of large, round numbers on some of the major indices replaced the fear of missing out (FOMO)? Or can we just call it profit taking on a very short, but torrid, advance higher? With the smaller and less-concentrated indices falling the most, the reading for market breadth was very bad. The reading for NYSE advances-decliners was -1,917; the reading for NYSE advancing issues/total issues was a weak 20% (one of the worst days in recent months); and the reading for NYSE advancing volume/total volume was 29%. The S&P 500 sectors didn't inspire a lot of confidence, but it's only one day. Materials dropped 1.7%, Healthcare gave up 1.4%, Consumer Discretionary and Real Estate fell 1.3%, Utilities dipped 1.2%, and Industrials fell 0.9%. Communication Services led with a 0.5% gain. Bitcoin reached $90,243 intraday despite the continued rally in the U.S. Dollar Index. So much for the consistent negative correlation between the two assets. However, gold futures fell to $2,606/oz., the lowest mark since September and a clear trend break. Silver futures finished near $31/oz., after hitting $35/oz. late in October. The COT data for metals remains bearish and the COT data for the greenback remains bullish -- so additional weakness in metals is quite possible.