Options investors cautious as consumer staples earnings loom

Consumer staples stocks have served investors well through the last 12 months of market turmoil, but with quarterly earnings around the corner, activity in the options market spells caution. With the exception of the smaller telecom and utilities sectors, consumer staples is the best performing S&P 500 sector in 2016, up 5.5 percent for the year to date. S&P 500 consumer staples are expected to report a first-quarter earnings decline of 2 percent, compared with a 7.6 percent drop for the