010349 Smithfield Holding Its Own in Stock Slide

Could Smithfield be a "safe haven?"

As the Dow Jones industrial average fell another 500 points last week, Smithfield Foods' stock went up by nearly five percent -- one of the few local stocks that didn't join the stock market's fall.

Much of the upswing probably had to do with the U.S. government's ban on pork from the European Union after reports of foot-and-mouth disease breaking out in France. Foot-and-mouth disease can spread rapidly among animals and kill them.

The Smithfield-based company can take advantage of that ban, the theory goes, by taking market share from European competitors. Smithfield's 5% rise, to $31.75 per share, a $1.45 increase, came as the S&P Consumer Staple index, which includes food companies, fell by 1.64%.

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