Hit the shops! Sell the shares
STOXX down 0.8%, auto sector off 3.1%
Mercedes down 7% after it cuts profit target
U.S. futures down around 0.2%
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HIT THE SHOPS! SELL THE SHARES
UK retailers are having a grim day. It isn't helping that fashion and luxury stocks across Europe are under pressure from more negativity around the Chinese economy. The FTSE 350 retail stock index .FTNMX404010 is the worst performer so far today in London, down 2%, versus a 1% fall in the STOXX retail index .SXRP. A steep drop in shares of bootmaker Dr Martens DOCS.L after Goldman Sachs sold 70 million of its shares at a discount and declines across the likes of other high-street fashion outlets like Next NXT.L and JD Sports JD.L are casting a pall across the broader sector.
Retailer shares have taken little comfort from data earlier today that showed British consumer spending rose a lot more than expected in August as shoppers took advantage of the Bank of England rate cut in June and thanks to a burst of warmer weather and end-of-season sales.
There's definite end-of-week profit taking going on anyway, but perhaps more tellingly about the outlook is a separate survey that showed Prime Minister Keir Starmer's warnings about the state of the British economy and the likely need for tax increases in next month's budget have caused consumer confidence to plunge this month. Next boss Simon Wolfson said earlier this week the outlook for UK consumer spending was still positive.
(Amanda Cooper)
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For Friday's earlier live markets posts
CHINA WORRIES HIT EUROPE, AGAIN CLICK HERE
SET FOR LOWER OPEN, BUT ALL GOOD REALLY CLICK HERE
MORNING BID - BOJ BRINGS YEN INTO SHARPER FOCUS CLICK HERE
UK retailer stock https://reut.rs/3MRCNOl
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