Is the Christmas spending surge sustainable in 2006?

Up to the end of the third quarter in 2005, companies with strong visible cash flow, structural growth and a good starting yield proved to be the correct positions to have. Staying clear of the UK consumer and pure cyclical companies also proved correct except for the oil and mining sectors. However, all this changed in the fourth quarter as the market turned on its head, beginning to believe the end to rising interest rates and that inflation was not an issue. With global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth surprisingly on the upside, the market pushed ahead with cyclicals, banks and c...