When the going gets tough, investors have grown used to betting on the tough going shopping. Every wobble of the past few years saw the consumer ignoring currency collapses, geopolitics and even government brushes with bankruptcy, and instead heading for the mall.
The same has been true this year. The best-performing stocks in the US, UK and eurozone are in the defensive consumer staples and the racier consumer discretionary sectors. Almost no other sectors managed to make money, at least in dollar terms. Even in emerging markets, over the past six months consumer stocks have been the best performers, although they still fell.
It is not just the stock market that has relied on consumers. The world has been looking to the US to provide an economic lead, and US growth has come mainly from consumption (recently investment has been OK, too).
This, then, is not a good time for disappointing retail sales figures. Poor data on Wednesday suggested that the US consumer might finally be losing the will to shop, with overall sales growth below forecasts and sales, excluding cars and petrol, flat.
You can read the rest @
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bbcfc2fc-728d-11e5-a129-3fcc4f641d98.html#axzz3oeJLhT8y
This is a rather naive assessment for a publication which has a reputation for knowing what's going on in the financial world.
In reality US consumers are not shopping because they have no jobs, they have no money, and their credit has run out. Period.
What FT is saying suggests they are clueless on this issue or have become just another branch of the Ministry of Truth.
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