What Sells in a Pandemic? Weight Watchers, Pools and Cereal

One of the more striking features of the pandemic is the inequity of the pain it has inflicted. It has disproportionately affected Black and Latino communities. More than 16 million Americans are unemployed, nearly triple February’s levels, but investors in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index are back in the green for the year. And while some businesses are looking at a multiyear slump in demand, others are experiencing their best sales growth ever. The second-quarter earnings season brought fresh evidence of relative bright spots for spending, from the obvious demand for cleaning products to more surprising splurges like swimming pools and Weight Watchers memberships. That’s a shift from the financial crisis of 2008 and 2009. You would be hard pressed to name large companies that didn’t experience some sort of a slowdown from that particular recession, let alone any that were outright beneficiaries. There are no real winners in a global pandemic that has killed more than 150,000 people in the U.S., but the willingness of at least some Americans to keep spending on certain categories is a positive indicator and has most likely served to keep the economic downturn from being even worse. Here’s what stood out:

BIG-TICKET ITEMS
The unique nature of the pandemic and months spent under lockdown conditions has some consumers making the kind of large discretionary purchases that are typically the first to get cut in a downturn. New-home sales in the U.S. rose to an almost 13-year high in June, while purchases of existing homes posted the largest ever month-over-month gain as families juggling the work-from-home and virtual-learning experiments seek out bigger properties in less-urban areas. Much of this home-buying now starts virtually. That translated into a 12% gain in monthly users on Zillow Group Inc.’s sites during the second quarter. Better-than-expected sales growth in its internet and mortgages divisions should push the company’s third-quarter operating profit above the threshold it was targeting internally before the pandemic, Chief Financial Officer Allen Parker said on an earnings call last week. High on the list of priorities for some home shoppers is going to be a parking spot. A wariness of public transportation and ride-sharing has underscored the appeal of individual cars and helped the sector bounce back much more quickly than anticipated. General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. both reported better-than-expected second-quarter results amid a strong gain in sales once dealerships and plants were allowed to reopen in May and June. Both could return to profitability next quarter, a sharp contrast to the financial crisis when GM and Chrysler were forced into bankruptcy and Ford only barely avoided the same fate.