High Street Blues
Consumer confidence is still at a low ebb because of market uncertainty, pressure on earnings and heavy media speculation over the prospects of a recession.
In spite of improved retail earnings – the British Retail Consortium announced like-for-like UK sales rose 2.6% in January, though these were largely fuelled by higher food prices – the outlook from retailers is still gloomy.
Equally, pubs and breweries are experiencing drops in revenue because of the smoking ban, and last week it was announced that the UK’s largest brewery, owned by Scottish & Newcastle, was set to close.
However, certain indicators are coming into play to suggest consumer spending is not completely without support. There have been cuts in interest rates, further falls in UK unemployment – it dropped by 61,000 in the three months to December last year – and strong online sales.
Take a position on a sector
With IG Markets, it is possible to take a position on a whole sector, such as Retail or Leisure, if you think it is going to rise or fall. You can deal CFDs on a sector, allowing you to take an industry-wide view without tying your risk or reward to one particular stock. We offer CFDs on a wide range of FTSE 350 sectors, gaining you exposure to a basket of related stocks with a single position.
By trading a CFD on a sector you pay no commission, just our competitive dealing spread.
For a full list of the Sectors you can trade on through IG Markets, visit Sectors: Contract Details.
The above comments do not constitute investment advice and IG Markets accepts no responsibility for any use that may be made of them.
20/02/08