Fortune Sees No Signs of Trading Down

DISCUS said last week it expects trading up activity to slow somewhat in 2008. The sentiment has been echoed by Brown-Forman, Diageo (to an extent), analysts and other insiders. Fortune Brands, however, says its spirits business had yet to experience any problems as a result of the slowing economy.The company’s spirits division “typically experiences volume growth of 2-4% in the U.S. This year is a little slower than what we saw in 2006, maybe at 2.5% to maybe a little