LIVE MARKETS-Staples shine for a second day 

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STAPLES SHINE FOR A SECOND DAY

The Consumer Staples index .SPLRCS is up more than 2% on Tuesday and is among leading sector gainers for the second day in a row on the S&P 500 .SPX, with Coca-Cola KO.N shares up 4.7% following its upbeat results.

While many eyes are on Microsoft MSFT.O and other companies in the "Magnificent 7" group of megacaps reporting this week, Coca-Cola on Tuesday reported strong quarterly results and raised annual targets, saying World Cup hydration breaks boosted its energy drink sales.

Shares of Procter & Gamble PG.N, due to report quarterly results before the bell on Wednesday, are up 1.7%.

The defensive staples index has been outperforming the benchmark S&P 500 this year, and for the third quarter, it is up nearly 5% so far and is the third-best sector gainer for the period. At the same time, technology .SPLRCT has been selling off recently and is down about 5% for the period.

Second-quarter earnings growth for S&P 500 consumer staples companies is estimated at 6.7% year over year, as of Tuesday, according to data from Tajinder Dhillon, head of earnings and equity research at LSEG Data & Analytics.

That compares with overall S&P 500 growth for the second quarter of 27.3%, excluding mark-to-market gains for Alphabet GOOGL.O, Dhillon notes.

A whopping 85.2% of the 169 companies that have reported so far have beaten analysts' earnings expectations, according to his data. The average over the past four quarters is 80%.

(Caroline Valetkevitch)

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