Defensives Hit Fresh 52-week Lows As Investors Turn to Tech

A handful of defensive stocks hit a fresh 52-week low today as investors rebalance their portfolios to increase exposure to artificial intelligence (AI) stocks.

Chipmakers like Nvidia (NVDA:US), Marvell (MRVL:US), Advanced Micro Devices (AMD:US), and Broadcom (AVGO:US) have continued to see their shares rally on robust demand for high-end AI products.

"Nvidia is the poster child for AI at the moment," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC. "If this AI trend is real, the immediate demand is going to be in chips and computing power.”

Similarly, sentiment on Alphabet (GOOGL:US) and Microsoft (MSFT:US) is also extremely positive as these two offer quality balance sheets, in addition to AI products.

On the other hand, pharma stocks CVS Health (CVS:US) and Organon (OGN:US) hit fresh 52-week lows on Wednesday. Congressman Ro Khanna was buying both stocks in the second half of April.

Similarly, consumer-centric stocks like Newell Brands (NWL:US), Domino’s Pizza (DPZ:US), Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP:US), and Estee Lauder (EL:US) also trade at 1-year lows amid fears that the period of higher interest rates may stay longer than earlier thought.

Congress members were mostly selling these stocks in recent weeks. Representatives Kathy Manning, Daniel Goldman, and Ro Khanna all reported sales in these stocks in March and April. Most notably, Congressmen Khanna and Goldman reported $15,000 - $50,000 worth of sales of KDP shares while they still traded in the mid $30s.

The KDP stock is seen exchanging hands at $30.80 in early Wednesday trading.