(Bloomberg) — This new flock of young adults known as the millennial generation acts in ways that are very mysterious to the rest of us who came of age in the last millennium.
For example, why on Earth do they refuse to play golf? And why do they dress like the Little Mermaid and dance in slow motion at concerts that feature no actual musicians? Most importantly: are they secretly filming us with their smartphones so they can mock us later on social networks we haven't yet heard of?
As intriguing as this generation is, you may be wasting your time trying to mine their mercurial modus operandi for investment ideas. Instead, the baby boomers are still the ones really driving the bus in the stock market, according to Bank of America Corp. strategists led by Savita Subramanian.
Consider the leadership of the stock market this year: health care shares are up more than 16 percent for the biggest advance among 10 groups in the Standard & Poor's 500 Index. Companies that rely on discretionary consumer spending are barely up 1 percent, the worst performance.
This trend is unlikely to abate, according to Subramanian and colleagues.
'Spend less'
"People tend to spend less as they get older, and spending habits shift from discretionary items like cars and clothing, as well as education and child care, to drugs and health care," they wrote.
