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People working in the retail sector is directly depending on the willingness of people to spend money and the surveys that just have been published in some of the leading economies give UNI commerce reason to hope that the global retail sector soon will stop shedding people.



There is a risk though that the positive surveys should be understood as an indicator that people have got used to the crisis and therefore no longer are panic stricken. It remains to be seen if the positive reporting will result in increased spending but consumers should be aided by the fact that in many countries food inflation is at a steady low level thus allowing for people to spend money on more than just food.



Particularly encouraging is it that in the world’s largest exporter and EU’s largest economy Germany consumer confidence rose in May contradicting the fact that Germany is in its worst recession for decades and that the retail sector has been contracting for 12 months straight. UNI Commerce can only hope that the German government will do the right thing for German retailer Arcandor which is threatened by bankruptcy and the loss of as many 53.000 jobs.



In the USA May also showed an increase in consumer confidence, reaching its highest point since September 2008 indicating that American consumers feel the worst is behind them. Though the American housing market still has not recovered the positive development of consumer confidence is good news the countries that have been hit by the diminished demand from the US market.



In the UK consumer confidence has been increasing and May saw the highest point since the end of 2008 and revealed that British consumers were more confident about the prospects for the economy.



However, all three countries still forecast a contraction of their respective economies of up to 6 % so it is still too soon to announce the end of the crisis. UNI Commerce cannot be other than positive about the fact that people feel more confident and secure as this often leads to increased spending.



Read more:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/breakingnews/American-consumer-confidence-soars-in-May.html;

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/270408,german-consumer-confidence-holds-steady--summary.html

http://uk.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUKTRE5517WJ20090603?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews