Hedge fund manager Nelson Peltz, founder of Trian Fund Management, grabbed the attention of plenty of consumer staples investors Wednesday when he reiterated that PepsiCo (NYSE : PEP) should acquire Mondelez International (NasdaqGS: MDLZ). Those comments were made at the CNBC/Institutional Investor Delivering Alpha conference.
Peltz’s comments did not do much to lift the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLP) or the Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF (NYSEArca: VDC), but speculation about this involvement in another blue-chip sent some other sector ETFs rallying into Wednesday’s close. During the conference, CNBC reported that Peltz had amassed a stake in Dow component and chemicals giant DuPont (NYSE: DD), according to the Associated Press.
Peltz did not confirm or deny DuPont stake for Trian, but the speculation was enough to send the stock up 5.3%. And that was enough to boost the Materials Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLB) and the iShares U.S. Basic Materials ETF (NYSEArca:IYM). Both funds finished the day higher by about 1%. [Materials ETFs Outperforming]
DuPont is XLB’s second-largest holding with a weight of 10.3% while the stock is also IYM’s number two holding with an allocation of 9.5%. Monsanto (NYSE: MON) is the top holding in both funds.
The Peltz/DuPont rumor helps add to what has been a strong July thus far for both ETFs. With Wednesday’s gains, IYM and XLB are both up about 4% since the start of the month. XLB is usually the top-performing of the nine sector SPDR ETFs in the month of July, though this month the fund has trailed its consumer discretionary and financial services counterparts. [King Dollar has Hit These SectorETFs]