Milling & Baking News - January 8, 2013 - 1

THE NEWS WEEKLY OF GRAIN-BASED FOODS JANUARY 8, 2013

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FEATURE

Stock Market Review

With 17.3% jump, grain-based shares close 2012 at record high
KANSAS CITY — Outperforming the overall stock market again, shares of grain-based foods companies rose sharply in trading in 2012, closing at an all-time high. At 14117.69, the Grain-Based Foods Share Index, calculated by Milling & Baking News, was up 17.3% for the year. The index beat out broader major market indexes, some easily, including the Dow Jones average of industrial shares, up 7.3%; the S.&P.500, up 13%; and the Nasdaq composite, up just beneath 16%. With the double-digit gain, the grain-based foods index has risen four consecutive years and has gained ground in six of the last seven. The rise was the largest in six years, or since a 19.2% advance in 2006. The Grain-Based Foods Share Index easily beat out the consumer staples group within the S.&P.500,

Waiting for a donut deal
Donettes brand needs a buyer after Hostess goes out of business
Story on Page 26

LATE NEWS

Dunkin’ Brands testing gluten-free products
CANTON, MASS. — Dunkin’ Brands Group, Inc. confirmed Jan. 3 that it is test marketing gluten-free products. “A few select Dunkin’ Donuts restaurants in the Boston and Miami area are currently carrying gluten-free muffins and donuts,” said Justin Drake, public relations manager at Canton-based Dunkin’ Brands. “These include blueberry muffins and cinnamon sugar donuts.” The company provided no additional information. “Glutenfree Foods and Beverages in the U.S.,” a report issued last year by Packaged Facts, said the market for gluten-free foods and beverages in
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which rose 7.5%. It underperformed only two sectors of the S.&P., including consumer discretionary, up 22%; and financials, up 26%. Of 20 companies in the Grain-Based Foods Share Index that traded for the full year of 2012, 16 closed with gains and 3 sustained declines. One was
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2008 farm bill extended under ‘ﬁscal cliff’ compromise
WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives on the evening of Jan. 1, by a vote of 256 to 171, passed the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012. The act, in addition to preserving George W. Bush-era tax reductions for all but the wealthiest Americans and postponing until March 1 decisions on further deficit-reduction measures required to avoid automatic acrossthe-board cuts in defense and domestic programs, extended the current farm bill through Sept. 30. The Senate, where the compromise bill originated, passed the measure by a vote of 89 to 8 in the early hours of New Year’s Day. President Barack Obama signed the bill Jan. 2. The lame duck session of Congress was dominated by the drama and ultimately the scramble to avoid the so-called “fiscal cliff.” Vice-President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who crafted the compromise tax bill, ignored efforts of leaders of the congressional agriculture
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Milling & Baking News - January 8, 2013

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