5 Retail Stocks To Give You A Jolt Of Confidence In 2019
Zacks Investment Research | Dec 27, 2018 08:25PM ET
Consumer confidence took a hit this December, stumbling to the lowest level since July owing to issues like the U.S.-China trade conflict, volatile crude prices, tightening of monetary policy, partial government shutdown and slowing global economy. Fading of tax-cut benefit and concerns related to the moderating pace of economic growth in 2019 were other dampening factors.
Analysts pointed that the Fed, which raised the benchmark interest rates four times this year, is projecting two hikes next year in the wake of market gyrations and other geopolitical tensions that may have a direct or an indirect bearing on the U.S. economy. It lowered the U.S. GDP growth rate outlook to 2.3% from 2.5% for 2019.
Well, per the latest Conference Board data, the Consumer Confidence Index dropped to 128.1 in December from November’s reading of 136.4 and lagged analysts’ expectations. This reflects the lingering fear in investors that the distressing factors will weigh on markets in 2019 as well.
Nonetheless, some experts look on the sunny side, with a strengthening labor market and rising disposable income likely to drive consumer spending. An uptick in this metric is welcome news for retailers. Notably, the number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits slipped to near a 49-year low last week, with the unemployment rate at 3.7%.
Meanwhile, a report from Mastercard (NYSE:MA) SpendingPulse indicates that sales from Nov 1 through Dec 24 increased 5.1% to more than $850 billion. Rise in sales not only add to the holiday euphoria but also provide an opportune time to invest in retail stocks for 2019. It is hard to predict what awaits investors next year. But the wisest thing to do now is to make your portfolio resilient to unforeseen adversities by adding favorably-ranked stocks backed by sturdy fundamentals.
Having said that we have highlighted five Retail-Wholesale stocks with an encouraging combination of a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) or 2 (Buy) and a Zacks Investment Research
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