Slowdown in consumer spending impacts retail

Consumer cyclicals continue to come under pressure in the US, due to anticipated interest rate rises and slowdown in high street spending. These issues have been exacerbated by a recent downgrade of the retail sector by Goldman Sachs, which lowered its recommendations on some of the US bigger retail names, including Wal-Mart, Target, Kohls and Costco. In the year to 9 May, the retail sector has underperformed the broader US market by 15%. Alison Wright, US fund manager at Britannic Asset Management, says the key concern is that the environment for retail stocks can only deteriorate in...