 And we will discuss right now the outlook for consumer staples. Love them or leave them for 2022. Melissa Armos with us, founder, owner of the Stockswush and Matt Malley, managing director, chief market strategist, Miller Tabak and company, also the founder of the Malley Report. I'm happy to see you both. We saw this group doing well late in the year last year. We always see it as a safe haven. Melissa, you are a screaming bull on this group. Tell me more. Why is that? The reasons that these stocks have had such a big rally this whole sector in 2020, 2021 and into the beginning of 2022 is because people are staying at home more, they're stocking up, they're buying things. And of course, I believe that inflation will continue throughout the entire year of 2022 and it also could possibly get worse. So people may be buying things ahead of an expectation also that the cost will continue to rise. So I wouldn't look for any of these stocks to be really falling off. I think so many of them are strong. I'm a little bit surprised that the way that Amazon has sold off actually the last month, but other than that, even Amazon isn't an uptrend, but other than that, Costco, Target, Walmart, many of these are making new highs, Kroger as well. Look for them to continue their strength. And I think they're probably good long-term buys for the next 12 to 24 months. It's interesting because Matt, I wanna get your view here too along with Melissa, sounds like you're also positive on the group. And what's interesting is that some of the big houses like Nuvine and Mizzouho, and I was looking at their year-end targets and they seem to be a little out of favor on consumer staples and more towards energy and financials and things like that. Matt, what is it that you like about the group? And you have some names you like as well. I agree with Melissa. First of all, the inflation thing of course is very bullish, but also look at this thing as a defensive play. People are very worried about the stock market. And throughout most of 2021, the consumer staples underperformed for most of the first half of the year, badly underperformed, but not only did the outperform in December, since early December, but they've outperformed in a major way. And part of that has to do with investors coming in saying, especially the institutional side saying, oh my gosh, I still wanna play in some of these high tech names. I mean Apple Computer, great company, Microsoft, great company. But I'm worried about the slowdown in the economy. I'm worried about inflation. I need to barbell my portfolio to have kind of some of those growth names, but I need some protection there. And also of course- Yeah, so what names did you have that you liked? Matt? And I like the names that pay a good dividend too because they kind of pay you to wait. But I like as Archer Daniels Midland. I mean, there's a company that's kind of a food company or is a food company. And that's good for inflation. People still need to eat. So they may not pay a lot of money for certain things, but they're certainly gonna pay for food and for detergent and things like that. I like Walmart because the stock really hasn't done much lately. And if inflation's higher, people are gonna go to more discount stores like Walmart. So there's Colgate's another name with a real nice deal there. So I like quite a few of them. Yeah, I understand what you're saying. And it seems to make sense what you're both saying at the same time. You had the analysts over down at Wells Fargo today pulling back on Target and Dollar General just saying that these names just couldn't get back to those pandemic highs and demand that we saw. And maybe they won't, but you're still liking these names. And Melissa, I know you had some of the names that you sent over as well that you liked. I just wanna hear more about your picks. Melissa, at the same time we showed the XLP, which is the group of the consumer staples, which has done well in one year. It's up about 16% and really provides a defensive side of the market, especially when people get nervous. Melissa, which names did you like? Well, I really like Costco and I do like Target and I do like Walmart as well, not just because they're lower priced stores, but because you can go there and you can buy anything. And even though, again, you can order whatever you want from Amazon, you can still walk into a Target shop. People are still wanting to get out and do that. And that is a benefit I think when you have the brick and mortar stores, which obviously Walmart and Target do. I forgot one name to put in the list is I'm thinking about it here now with the meat products. I like Tyson Foods. That stock has been on a tear, a tear. And again, with earnings season two weeks away, you're gonna have some of these things report. Whether the earnings are good or whether the earnings are bad, I still think many of these things end up holding the uptrends. You've seen meat prices increase, you've seen food prices increase. And I don't think any of these things are gonna drop off, even if they would have, I hate to say pull back, but even if they would have some kind of sell-out like we saw within the market in the last two days, I still think that all these stocks are gonna hold the uptrend, but look for the earnings to come out. In three weeks, we start earning season. Costco's gonna report in the next six weeks and you're gonna have, again, Tyson Foods. Some of these things that I really like, Walmart, Target, they're towards the end of earnings season. But those will be the times that you'd wanna maybe add to your positions or take a new position. If you're not one of those things, wait until the earnings come out. And if the earnings reports is good and the forecast is good and the stock gaps up, you may wanna get in some of those things now. Again, when you see the market screeching like it was all of 2021 and making new highs, you have to say, gosh, it's time to invest in some of these things and you wanna invest how to make money in the market. You buy strong stocks and you short week stocks. That's how you do it. So because this whole sector- Right. Would not wanna be shorting it, be selling it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Matt, your thoughts, final thoughts here for Matt as we take a look. I mean, there's no doubt inflation is a big picture story and the Fed's planning on three or four rate hikes. Supply chain is a big story, but you still see this group as the pay-to-weight and dividend payers as well. Matt? Yeah, and I totally agree with what Melissa's saying. And I just add this one thing we talked a lot about Walmart already, but the brick and mortar, et cetera, you can buy or get anything you want there. But also, they have been one of the best companies in the world to have compete with Amazon. I mean, to be honest with you, if we can get it at Walmart, walmart.com, we get it from Walmart because they're better at getting it to us quicker. So they've really moved into the online sales very, very well. So that's what I really think is gonna be a great play and it really hasn't done much in the last year. And I think that's gonna be one of those stocks that does do well. And a lot of times when you get a stock that doesn't do well for one year, the next year it does, especially when you get a company like Walmart and that has such a great management team. And Melissa mentioned Costco, I agree with that. Stock's a little bit more extended, but that doesn't mean that it might pull back. I think if it does pull back at all, I agree it'd be a great opportunity to buy the stock. I wanna say one more thing. Thank you both very, very much. Nice to see you. A happy new year to you both. Thank you always for being on with us here on the show. I appreciate it. I love seeing you, Melissa Arma of the Stock Swoosh, Matt Malley of Miller Tavak. The Malley Report as well. Thank you.