Table of contents
Positioning for China consumer stocks in 2009: another winning year for staples? 2
US market history suggests staples may remain a low-risk choice for 2009 3
US staples have tended to outperform discretionary stocks during down-cycles 3
Discretionary typically starts to outperform before macro troughs 5
US market history shows higher earnings risk for discretionary names 5
The China experience is similar to that of the US 8
Earnings risk for discretionary companies still persists in 2009 8
Disclosures 11
The prices in the body of this report are based on the market close of January 29, 2009.