03:52 PM EDT, 03/31/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Consumer stocks were mixed late Tuesday afternoon, with the State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP) decreasing 0.2% and the State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) rising 3.2%.

In sector news, Redbook US same-store sales rose 6.9% from a year earlier in the week ended March 28 after a 6.7% year-over-year increase in the previous week.

In corporate news, McCormick ( MKC ) agreed to combine with Unilever's ( UL ) food business in a deal that values the London-based consumer goods giant's unit at about $44.8 billion. McCormick ( MKC ) shares were down 5.7%, and Unilever ( UL ) fell 5.3%.

Hershey (HSY) reaffirmed at its investor day Tuesday its fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS and net sales growth guidance. Hershey shares shed 2.9%.

WeRide ( WRD ) and Uber ( UBER ) said they launched fully driverless Robotaxi fare-charging operations in Dubai. WeRide ( WRD ) shares jumped past 13%, and Uber ( UBER ) gained 2.6%.

Nexstar Media ( NXST ) and Tegna's merger approval by the US Federal Communications Commission has been criticized in a letter by the ranking members of the Senate Commerce Committee, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. In the letter, Senator Ted Cruz and Senator Maria Cantwell jointly told FCC Chairman Brendan Carr that he improperly allowed his staff to allow the merger even though the deal involved waiving major anti-merger rules, the report said. Nexstar shares were down 1.6%.