In consumer Hands
If there is one crucial factor for an economy to grow, it is consumer spending. And with Christmas sales not far away we need to ask whether the consumer is back and wants to spend as much as he did last year or more.
Laura Conaway has a great post over at the Planet Money Blog, in which consumers were asked by American express, how they would spend a certain amount of money they found. Only 10% of them would’ve spent it. Most of them decided to pay regular bills or credit card debt.
That’s not a good sign for nearby future consumer spending.
Laura says: With economists predicting unemployment will top 10 percent soon and stay above 9 percent through 2010, who’s in the mood to spend much on anything?
And I think that is a question we should have in mind, when Christmas sales start. Usually stocks are running up during that time of the year, but in 2009 stocks did that already for the better part of the year. So can we expect to see more rising prices? Maybe but we need to get our act together as far as risk management goes.
Put your stops in place and be disciplined when they´re hit. Get out you can always get in at a later time. Make sure that you protect your account it is by far more important than being greedy.