The disappearing high end consumer
Source: http://blogs.moneyandmarkets.com/blog/china-and-asia-stock-alert/0/0/the-disappearing-high-end-consumerPosted on Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | In Asia
This has nothing to do with Asia, but this comment from Saks Q3 conference call really caught my attention.
“During the quarter we experienced a greater decline among our high end
customers consistent with the performance of the financial markets.
This is in contrast to the stronger trends among this group that we had
seen earlier in the year… I don’t think any of us anticipated that
the high-end consumer was going to fall off as dramatically as they
have.”
“Our consumer [has] seen a major hit on their portfolios and they [are]
in a frozen mode, shell shocked relative to how they feel about their
portfolio.”
The conventional wisdom is that the rich keep spending no matter what happens to the economy, but that sure isn’t what Saks is seeing.
The last bastion of retail strength is now the low-end ‘Wal-Mart’ trade.
Last 5 posts by Tony Sagami
- World Bank Calls China: A “Ray of Hope” - April 14th, 2009
- Even Walt Disney Couldn’t Have Imagined This … - April 9th, 2009
- Following the Warren Buffett of China - February 17th, 2009
- Gaming stocks down on their luck - January 20th, 2009
- Japan: worst stock market drop in history - December 31st, 2008
 About Tony Sagami (http://blogs.moneyandmarkets.com/blog/china-and-asia-stock-alert)
Tony Sagami, a veteran investment advisor and a leading expert on Asian markets, is the owner and founder of Harvest Advisors, an investment research and money management company. Mr. Sagami has been managing money for more than 20 years and is one of the early pioneers in the application of technical and quantitative analysis to mutual funds and stocks. He is a featured contributor to Weiss Research’s daily e-letter, Money and Markets and monthly Safe Money Report as well as the editor of Asia Stock Alert. Prior to establishing his own firm, Mr. Sagami was managing director at W.E. Donoghue & Co, serving additionally as the director of investment. During his successful career, he also held the position of account executive at Merrill Lynch. Mr. Sagami’s views on Asian markets, specifically Chinese investments, have been featured in publications such as The Wall Street Journal, Barron’s, Kiplinger’s, Smart Money, Business Week, New York Times, Washington Post, Investors Business Daily, Bloomberg, Financial Planning Times, Mutual FundsMagazine, Chicago Tribune, and the LA Times, as well as on CNBC and CNBC Asia. Mr. Sagami holds a degree in economics from the University of Washington. |
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