Transcript:
Conway Gittens: I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching on TheStreet today.
Stocks ended in the green Wednesday as the annual rate of inflation slowed to a 3.5 year low in August. There remains, however, some hot pockets of inflation. Housing costs in the Consumer Price Index surged 5.2 percent from a year ago. Nevertheless, Fed watchers believe inflation is tame enough for the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates in September.
Investors get more inflation data on Thursday when the Producer Price Index is released.
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In other news: Campbell is planning to drop the Soup from its name and wants to be known as The Campbell’s Company.
The 155-year-old soup maker – famous for warming many a stomach on a cold day from its iconic red and white cans – is making money from more than just soups. The company also owns a host of other food brands likePepperidge Farm snacks, Swanson frozen dinners, both Prego and Rao’s pasta sauces, V8 juices, Cape Cod potato chips, Pop Secret microwave popcorn, and Noosa yogurt.
CEO Mark Clouse told investors, “We will always love soup, and we’ll never take our eye off of this critical business. But today, we’re so much more than soup.”
Campbell created the canned soup business all the way back in 1897 and times have certainly changed since then. Currently, packaged food companies like Campbell are challenged by the popularity of GLP-1 weight loss drugs and as cash-strapped consumers trade down to cheaper generic brands.
But Campbell is upbeat on its product mix. It predicts Goldfish crackers will take over as its top brand by 2027. As for soup, an aging population is expected to buoy sales into the future.
A shareholder vote on the name change is scheduled for November.
That’ll do it for your Daily Briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, I’m Conway Gittens with TheStreet.
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