Defensives
Demand that does not care about the cycle: staples, household products, tobacco, regulated utilities, waste, telecom, and needs-based healthcare. The basket to watch when breadth narrows and the tape gets defensive.
Performance
Follow the theme against the wider market.
Series before each basket's creation date are a backtest of the membership as of creation; live tracking starts at creation.
| Return | 1 day | 5 days | 20 days | 60 days | MTD | YTD | 1 year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Basket | -1.1% | -1.7% | -1.4% | +2.4% | -0.7% | +6.9% | +2.8% |
| vs FW 3000 | -0.8% | -1.9% | -1.0% | -3.7% | -1.2% | -5.7% | -13.6% |
Inside the basket · 30 stocks
Current members and the reasoning behind each inclusion. Returns are for individual stocks.
| Why it’s included | Added | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T | Telecom bond proxy — subscription cash flows | -2.0% | -1.3% | +7.9% | +7.0% | 2026-06-11 |
| JNJ | Diversified healthcare, fortress rating | -1.1% | +2.7% | +6.7% | +35.1% | 2026-06-11 |
| VZ | Telecom bond proxy — dividend anchor | -0.9% | +0.1% | +6.5% | +29.3% | 2026-06-11 |
| CWST | Northeast waste (Casella) | -2.5% | -0.2% | +4.6% | -4.5% | 2026-06-11 |
| RSG | Waste collection annuity | -1.1% | +0.3% | +3.8% | +6.0% | 2026-06-11 |
| GIS | Packaged food shelf staple | -2.5% | -7.8% | +3.8% | -13.6% | 2026-06-11 |
| KO | Beverage annuity, global distribution | -0.8% | -1.8% | +1.2% | +27.7% | 2026-06-11 |
| MO | Domestic tobacco — yield anchor | -0.9% | +0.3% | +0.8% | +23.3% | 2026-06-11 |
| ABT | Med devices + nutrition, needs-based | -0.4% | -3.7% | +0.5% | -11.9% | 2026-06-11 |
| PG | Household staples pricing power | -0.3% | +1.8% | +0.4% | +4.4% | 2026-06-11 |
| ED | The classic bond-proxy utility | -1.3% | -0.2% | +0.2% | +10.7% | 2026-06-11 |
| PEP | Snacks + beverages diversification | -0.7% | -1.4% | +0.1% | -1.2% | 2026-06-11 |
| OGE | Regulated Oklahoma utility | +0.1% | +2.6% | -0.2% | +13.0% | 2026-06-11 |
| AEP | Regulated transmission utility | -0.2% | +1.8% | -0.2% | +10.5% | 2026-06-11 |
| WEC | Regulated Midwest utility | -0.7% | -0.3% | -0.7% | +3.1% | 2026-06-11 |
| BKH | Regulated Plains utility (Black Hills) | -0.1% | +0.6% | -1.0% | +8.5% | 2026-06-11 |
| DUK | Regulated utility scale | -1.0% | -0.0% | -2.9% | +5.2% | 2026-06-11 |
| XEL | Regulated multi-state utility | -0.8% | -1.0% | -3.0% | +4.1% | 2026-06-11 |
| KMB | Tissue/personal care non-discretionary | -1.6% | -3.0% | -3.2% | +8.0% | 2026-06-11 |
| SCI | Funeral services (Service Corp) | -0.7% | -1.4% | -3.3% | +6.4% | 2026-06-11 |
| PM | Tobacco/nicotine pouches — pricing-power annuity | -2.0% | -4.9% | -3.7% | +15.8% | 2026-06-11 |
| WM | Waste collection: contractual, inflation-linked | -1.2% | -0.3% | -3.8% | +0.5% | 2026-06-11 |
| SO | Regulated southeast utility | -0.7% | -0.2% | -4.2% | +3.5% | 2026-06-11 |
| CHD | Household staples compounder | -0.0% | -2.7% | -4.3% | +18.7% | 2026-06-11 |
| CL | Oral/home care staples | -1.5% | -2.2% | -4.8% | +14.4% | 2026-06-11 |
| SYY | Food distribution scale | -1.3% | -2.3% | -5.0% | +11.0% | 2026-06-11 |
| CHE | Hospice and plumbing services (Chemed) | -0.9% | -0.7% | -5.8% | +22.0% | 2026-06-11 |
| MCD | Franchise royalty stream; value menu in downturns | -1.5% | -2.8% | -6.2% | -14.7% | 2026-06-11 |
| CLX | Household products | -1.3% | -9.2% | -10.5% | -4.4% | 2026-06-11 |
| FLO | Packaged bread (Flowers Foods) | -2.8% | -11.7% | -15.3% | -39.8% | 2026-06-11 |
How this basket is built
Equal-weighted, monthly-rebalanced, buy-and-hold between rebalances; dated membership changes take effect same-day.
Tracked since 2026-06-11. Membership decisions are documented below.
Read the methodology →Reading the returns
Basket returns include dividends. “vs FW 3000” compares the basket’s compounded growth with the benchmark’s. Green means positive; red means negative.
Cross-checked against 50/50 XLP+XLU. Daily return correlation: 0.95 across 1678 sessions. the healthcare, waste, and telecom sleeves sit outside the blend
Membership history & changes
- expand
FW 3000 pass: added FLO, SCI, CWST, CHE, OGE, BKH — names outside the S&P 500 but inside our broad universe; they count only in the FW 3000 version of this basket. Effective-dated to creation so the broad backtest covers the full set. The S&P 500 basket is unchanged.
- expand
Widening pass: added tobacco (PM, MO), more household products (CHD, CLX), food distribution (SYY), waste (RSG), three more regulated utilities (AEP, XEL, WEC), and the telecom bond proxies (T, VZ). Reference pinned to a 50/50 XLP+XLU blend. New members are effective-dated to basket creation so the backtest and the reference correlation cover the widened set (the basket was one day old, with no meaningful live history to restate).
- create
Initial composition: 13 names across staples, utilities, healthcare, waste.