- Ebbing inflation reduces firms’ ability to boost prices
- Wall Street sees revenue growth slowing for the sector
While US consumers may be feeling a measure of relief as inflation cools, investors in the shares of consumer-goods makers aren’t quite as calm.
That’s because ebbing inflation gives companies like Procter & Gamble Co. and Kimberly-Clark Corp. less justification to boost prices on their products, weighing on sales growth and threatening the outlook for profits. It’s a worrisome prospect for the sector’s stocks, which are coming off their worst annual performance relative to the broader market in more than 20 years and are trailing again in