Mondelez International Inc., headquartered in the Chicago suburb of Deerfield, Illinois, is one of two successor companies from the October 1, 2012 break-up of Kraft Foods. The company name was created by employees and is hybrid of the Latin word for world (mundus) and a modification of 'delicious.' The other company is called Kraft Heinz. Mondelez sells products in over 150 countries and has operations in approximately 80 countries and production facilities in 45 countries. The company regularly uses the term 'Power Brands,' to describe its largest global and regional brands. Under the biscuit banner, these include Oreo cookies, Chips Ahoy, Ritz crackers, and TUC/Club Social, belvita biscuits. The chocolate power brands include Cadbury Dairy Milk. The company has approximately 91,000 employees. The shares are a component of the S&P 500.

The S&P 500 couldn't hold 6,000 on Tuesday, finishing down a modest 0.3%, while the NYSE couldn't hold 20,000, dropping 0.8%. The Nasdaq, Nasdaq 100, and S&P 100 were flat. The larger losses came from recent leaders, with the S&P MidCap 400 falling 1% and the S&P SmallCap 600 dipping 1.5%. Has the fear of large, round numbers on some of the major indices replaced the fear of missing out (FOMO)? Or can we just call it profit taking on a very short, but torrid, advance higher? With the smaller and less-concentrated indices falling the most, the reading for market breadth was very bad. The reading for NYSE advances-decliners was -1,917; the reading for NYSE advancing issues/total issues was a weak 20% (one of the worst days in recent months); and the reading for NYSE advancing volume/total volume was 29%. The S&P 500 sectors didn't inspire a lot of confidence, but it's only one day. Materials dropped 1.7%, Healthcare gave up 1.4%, Consumer Discretionary and Real Estate fell 1.3%, Utilities dipped 1.2%, and Industrials fell 0.9%. Communication Services led with a 0.5% gain. Bitcoin reached $90,243 intraday despite the continued rally in the U.S. Dollar Index. So much for the consistent negative correlation between the two assets. However, gold futures fell to $2,606/oz., the lowest mark since September and a clear trend break. Silver futures finished near $31/oz., after hitting $35/oz. late in October. The COT data for metals remains bearish and the COT data for the greenback remains bullish -- so additional weakness in metals is quite possible.

This pick list highlights constituents of the Morningstar US Large Cap Index that we believe offer investors the best risk-adjusted return prospects. Stocks of large-cap companies where neither growth nor value characteristics predominate. Stocks in the top 70% of the capitalization of the U.S. equity market are defined as large cap.

Mondelez has operated as an independent organization since its split from the former Kraft Foods North American grocery business in October 2012. The firm is a leading player in the global snack enclave with a presence in the biscuit (49% of sales), chocolate (30%), gum/candy (12%), beverage (3%), and cheese and grocery (6%) aisles, as of the end of fiscal 2023. Mondelez's portfolio includes well-known brands like Oreo, Chips Ahoy, Halls, and Cadbury, among others. The firm derives around one third of revenue from developing markets, just more than one third from Europe, and the remainder from North America.