investors are rediscovering the charms of boring stocks anxieties over the federal reserve’s plans to tame inflation by raising interest rates have buffeted the stock market sending the sp 500 down 13 this year and 88 in april alone technology stocks have faced particularly intense pressure leaving the nasdaq composite off 21 for the year and 13 for the month instead investors appear to be turning their focus to companies offering everyday necessities—a preference that has been amplified as many such companies post strong quarterly results the consumerstaples group was the sole sp 500 sector in the green for april with a gain of 24 almost 90 of the staples companies that have reported this season have logged profits above analysts’ estimates according to factset across industries in the index as a whole that figure sits at 80 cocacola co ko 239  hershey co hsy 097  kraft heinz co khc 225  procter  gamble co pg 175 and kimberlyclark corp kmb 223 all reported strongerthanexpected earnings and saw their shares rise at least 4 in april “the boring slowgrowth highquality companies are doing well” said louise goudy willmering a partner at wealthmanagement firm crewe advisors “those kinds of things which were not as appealing and sexy in the tech bonanza of the pandemic have been continuing to grow” investors this week will scrutinize earnings reports from companies including molson coors beverage co tapa 129 pfizer inc  starbucks corp and ebay inc they also will watch the federal reserve’s meeting where centralbank officials are expected to raise their benchmark interest rate by half a percentage point and the monthly jobs report for clues about the strength of the labor market one of the topperforming stocks in the sp 500 last week was paint maker sherwinwilliams co  whose shares rose 94 in a single session after the company beat earnings expectations also on the leaderboard was sanitation company waste management inc  whose shares also climbed after a positive earnings surprise with us inflation at a fourdecade high investors are keeping a close eye on how companies are holding down their costs or passing increases along to customers through higher prices reports from some consumerstaples companies suggest households have yet to flinch at higher prices for basic items hershey raised its outlook for the year as demand for its candy and snacks held up despite higher prices cocacola reported higher sales as strong demand and price increases counteracted rising input costs “when it comes to everyday necessities consumers for the most part are price insensitive” said tom galvin chief investment officer at wealthmanagement firm city national rochdale “they have job gains they have wage gains they have cash on hand and they’re willing to pay more money to enjoy life…if i’m going to pay a nickel more for a can of my favorite beverage it’s like no big deal” rising rates aren’t the only problem for growth stocks like those of many tech firms that are valued on future growth big tech companies served up a mixed bag of earnings reports last week helping send the major stock indexes swinging sharply while shares of meta platforms inc soared 18 thursday after the facebook parent company added more users than expected amazoncom inc shares plunged 14 the following day after the company posted its first quarterly loss in seven years such stocks exert a heavy influence on indexes like the sp 500 that are weighted by market value the popular faang stocks—meta platforms amazon apple inc  netflix inc and google parent alphabet inc —along with microsoft corp make up more than 21 of the sp 500 but account for almost 37 of the index’s 2022 decline on a totalreturn basis according to sp dow jones indices the rush into defensive stocks has been so strong that staples stocks have started to look expensive the sp 500 sector traded for five sessions through the middle of last week at a higher forward priceearnings multiple than the technology segment the first time that had happened since april 2020 according to factset both groups traded late last week at about 22 times their projected earnings over the next 12 months tech stocks on the other hand have fallen so far that some investors say there are deals to be found andrew slimmon senior portfolio manager at morgan stanley investment management said he has been buying growth stocks including shares of big tech companies “these big tech stocks with a few exceptions are down a lot” he said “i just don’t think their valuations are at a level that should be avoided anymore”