The World Bank issued a new forecast for worldwide economic growth. It expects a third straight year of slowdown in 2024, yet it would defy fears of a recession.
During the crushing market sell-off of 2022, few pundits envisioned the perfect strong job market, inflationary slowdown, and soft landing scenario. Investors have three stocks to watch today as a result.
Assuming that governments hire more workers to keep unemployment rates low, invest in the aerospace and defense industry. Boeing (BA) stock fell from over $260 to $226 in the last month. It has the highest chance of a rebound.
Falling interest rates increase economic growth. Watch Wells Fargo (WFC). The bank will report results this Friday. It cut jobs in the last year to reduce costs. It is buying back shares aggressively. At a 10.6 times price-to-earnings ratio, WFC stock could break out further from here.
In the food and grocery segment, watch PepsiCo (PEP). Grocery chain Carrefour supported banning Pepsi products on its shelves in the past weekend. Unfortunately for Carrefour, Pepsi drinks, Cheetos, and Doritos are too popular. Consumers will pay higher prices for Pepsi’s goods. Sales will continue to outgrow the market average in the soft landing forecast.
Pepsi also has the option to keep prices unchanged while shrinking package sizes. Shrinkflation is nothing new, so its customers will not notice the higher cost per unit volume.
