Sector movers: Electricity companies, precious metals miners pace gains

(Sharecast News) - Stocks caught a bid on Tuesday despite the release of weaker-than-expected retail sales data in the States for the month of May. Economists at Capital Economics said that they weren't anticipating a "full-blown" slump in consumption, but that even a modest slowdown might be enough for the Fed to favour a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September.

Against that backdrop, yields on longer-term government bonds on either side of the Atlantic both fell back a bit more, while defensives fared best on the FTSE 350.

For his part, Goldman Sachs chief economist, Jan Hatzius, penned a research note in which he said that the US jobs market was at a possible "inflection point".

Making a similar point, speaking at an MNI Webcast, Richmond Fed chief, Tom Barkin, noted how the hiring rate in the US was back at the same level as in 2014.

That, he explained, had not been reflected in payrolls because the separation rate remained low.

Furthermore, his business contacts were telling him that consumption was "fine", although they were not describing it as "buoyant" or "frothy".

As regarded inflation on the other hand, the latest figures showed that prices were rising in over 50% of categories, as opposed to in 26% of them before Covid.

Barkin added that he was looking for broad and sustained declines in prices.

Top performing sectors so far today

Electricity 10,761.49 +3.64%

Precious Metals and Mining 10,139.29 +1.98%

Automobiles & Parts 1,123.43 +1.77%

Chemicals 8,258.37 +1.71%

Real Estate Investment & Services 2,279.35 +1.56%

Bottom performing sectors so far today

Industrial Transportation 3,990.57 -2.10%

Household Goods & Home Construction 13,521.90 -0.68%

Leisure Goods 23,920.27 -0.56%

Beverages 20,808.41 -0.32%

Medical Equipment and Services 11,286.12 -0.21%