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10-year Treasury yields hit 5%, the highest since 2007, as energy-driven inflation and a capital spending boom push bond yields up worldwide. Stocks and bonds no longer offset each other. Big investors are likely to move within stocks toward steady dividend payers such as Procter & Gamble, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo.

Core PCE hitting a 3-year high kills near-term Fed rate cuts. Consumers are 'begrudgingly' maintaining spending on essentials while cutting discretionary. Sector rotation into defensive staples is already live — XLP +2.1% vs XLY -1.4% this week. Long large-cap consumer staples with pricing power.

War-driven energy costs are pushing the Fed's PCE gauge toward 4%, creating a stagflationary trap where the Fed can't cut without worsening inflation. VIX at 16.7 is complacent for this regime. Consumer staples with pricing power are the non-obvious beneficiary — XLP is already lagging -1.3% this week, creating a contrarian entry as the rotation hasn't happened yet.

Wholesale prices at a 4-year high with WTI at $102.59 and 10Y yields at 4.48% create a brutal cost-push environment. Companies lacking pricing power face margin compression while branded consumer staples with inelastic demand can pass costs forward. Long large-cap branded staples with domestic revenue concentration; short cost-exposed, low-margin industrials.

Bank earnings confirm rate regime shift; staples face structural margin compression from higher cost of capital and sticky input costs.