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US consumer finally losing the will to shop
FT.com ^ | Last updated: October 15, 2015 12:08 am | James Mackintosh

Posted on 10/15/2015 12:30:21 AM PDT by SaveFerris

Overall sales growth below forecasts and sales excluding cars and petrol flat

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).

(Excerpt) Read more at ft.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Chit/Chat
KEYWORDS: consumer; consumerspending; consumerstaples; economy; globalcrisis; stockmarket; uscrisis
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To: knarf

“Damn ... I wish I had stayed asleep and not come in here”

Agreed, our own nightmares are not so frightening. The boogieman is all around and read ready to strike. At least with a nightmare, one awakes. With the mess of our government elites, there is no waking; just screaming - which is futile.


21 posted on 10/15/2015 2:55:11 AM PDT by V K Lee (from TRUMP to triumph follow the step!! TRUMP TRUMP TRUMP MAKING AMERICA GREAT)
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To: SaveFerris

People are losing the will to shop, because everything is made in China.

Bring back American jobs, and people will buy stuff once again.


22 posted on 10/15/2015 2:56:49 AM PDT by Cringing Negativism Network (http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html)
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To: grania

Well, I’m only $24,997 short on that. Fortunately, my accounts are grandfathered but I MUST use an ATM. Using a teller invokes a fee. The closest branch has removed ALL drive-up tellers (not that I used them), dropped the blinds, and removed about 6 drive-up machines to move the money back and forth. IOW, the change is permanent.


23 posted on 10/15/2015 3:01:00 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Be a blessing to a stranger today for some have entertained angels unaware)
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To: Cringing Negativism Network

Imagine, if you will, a country that elects politicians who willingly put their own constituents out of work and destroy everything in their path. And then tell you, you will like it, meet Jeb Bush, NWO-dummy.

When people have no discretionary income, and no jobs, there is no doubt where it’s all going.


24 posted on 10/15/2015 3:03:41 AM PDT by SaveFerris (Be a blessing to a stranger today for some have entertained angels unaware)
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To: SaveFerris
The best-performing stocks in the US, UK and eurozone are in the defensive consumer staples = guns and ammo?

LOL!!!

25 posted on 10/15/2015 3:10:02 AM PDT by grobdriver (Where is Wilson Blair when you need him?)
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To: SkyPilot

That has been so frikkin’ true ever since I read “Subliminal Seduction”


26 posted on 10/15/2015 3:29:00 AM PDT by knarf (ttitude)
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To: SaveFerris

Thanks for posting. Be prepared.


27 posted on 10/15/2015 3:40:36 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: SaveFerris

SaveFerris, in what city please?


28 posted on 10/15/2015 3:51:01 AM PDT by MeneMeneTekelUpharsin (Freedom is the freedom to discipline yourself so others don't have to do it for you.)
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To: Kickass Conservative

Zero interest rates are a tax on savers, pure and simple. If you don’t think that has sucked $$ out of the economy, you’re kidding yourself.

Also, many of us have all the crap we need and then some. Products last longer now too. I remember needing a new TV every 2 years back in the 1970s (because the ones they made barely lasted that long). Now its 10 years or more.


29 posted on 10/15/2015 3:51:29 AM PDT by rbg81 (is pr)
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To: SaveFerris

The entire “most transparent everything in history” administration of Obama has been nothing more than BS and smoke and mirrors.


30 posted on 10/15/2015 3:54:12 AM PDT by WKUHilltopper (And yet...we continue to tolerate this crap...)
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To: SkyPilot

I’m glad I can tune out most commercials.

Commercials from the 70s and 80s were better. I loved the Miller Beer ones as a kid of the 70s. The less filling/taste great ones with the players and a few celebrities.

Those failed with me though. I could never stand the taste of beer.


31 posted on 10/15/2015 4:00:11 AM PDT by wally_bert (I didn't get where I am today by selling ice cream tasting of bookends, pumice stone & West Germany)
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To: SaveFerris
People aren't losing the will to shop. They've just run out of things to buy.

Seriously ... just look around your house and ask yourself if you really need anything else.

32 posted on 10/15/2015 4:48:51 AM PDT by Alberta's Child ("It doesn't work for me. I gotta have more cowbell!")
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To: rbg81

I’ve got that beat. I bought my current TV on Halloween Day. 1992.


33 posted on 10/15/2015 4:50:14 AM PDT by EvilCapitalist (1 of 172)
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To: SaveFerris

People sure seem to be buying iPhones. A few days ago I stopped by AT&T to increase my mobil data and the place was so crowded it looked like Macy’s the weekend before Christmas. When I walked in the door a lady took my name and said It would likely be a two hour wait. She told me it had been that way every day since the new iPhone 6s became available last month. Of course I didn’t wait.


34 posted on 10/15/2015 5:46:05 AM PDT by .45 Long Colt
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To: SaveFerris

Not losing the will but the ability to shop because of lack of disposable income.


35 posted on 10/15/2015 5:46:27 AM PDT by Crucial (Tolerance at the expense of equal treatment is the path to tyranny.)
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To: SaveFerris

Correct. If a Republican is elected in 2016, any Republican, you can bet with absolute certainty that the Left in and out of government, banking, finance, etc. will let the whole house of cards collapse. I believe they are now actively holding things together as best they can on behalf of Obama and Democrats. Should a Republican be elected sure as shootin’ they will withdraw their active support and then things will come crashing down just in time to blame the Republicans.


36 posted on 10/15/2015 6:33:33 AM PDT by Obadiah (Mr. Obama, the time for honoring yourself will soon be at an end.)
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To: napscoordinator
Takes secure jobs and money to take vacations. It's why most of the tourist in amusement parks in CA are jammed with pushy rude foreigners babbling in 20 different languages. The same rude AH's buying up the 10 million dollar homes. To be honest, the very last place I want to be is standing in endless lines at some some crowded amusement park where they charge 14 bucks for a tiny snack. No crowds please!☺
37 posted on 10/15/2015 9:26:42 AM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: Crucial

That’s right; this headline is absurd. People are spending their previously-disposable income on groceries & utilities.

What a ridiculous headline; Americans will never lose the WILL to shop - just the means.


38 posted on 10/15/2015 1:50:54 PM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
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