The stock market has been nothing short of unpredictable this year. The S&P 500 dropped 21% from Jan. 1 through the end of June, and then rose 12% from July 1 through Aug. 15 before heading back into a downward spiral. On Sept. 13, all three major stock indexes, that is the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average, and Nasdaq Composite, suffered their worst one-day percentage drops since June 2020, the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic hysteria. Year to date, the S&P 500 is now down 17%. 

The big losses came after fresh inflation data showed that the Core Consumer Price Index (CPI) -- which measures the change in prices excluding those from the food and energy sectors -- rose more than expected in August, up 6.3%, versus 5.9% in July.

But with unpredictability comes volatility, and with volatility comes buying opportunities. Two world-class consumer stocks, Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and Chipotle (NYSE: CMG), have had to navigate their way through the high inflationary environment.

Continue reading

Source Fool.com