Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Nightmare Before Christmas?

Seeking Alpha blogger Ross Snyder sent up a scary trial balloon Monday about the Christmas shopping season.

Snyder discusses the effect of the swine flu on an investor's retail portfolio.

But the issue distills down to more than just stocks.

"... the northern hemisphere is experiencing flu season way too early for investors to underplay swine flu. Cooler heads around the world will be staying home when possible and donning N95 masks when out. Those of us who like to ignore bad news (hello, America!) may lead everyday lives longer, until changes at schools and hospitals become too big to ignore."

Snyder talks about considering investments in home-shopping or home-delivery services like E-bay, Amazon and Netflix.

Retail has been slow. I'm talking myself out of things I don't need before I get to checkout lines, aren't you?

If we're already paring back before holiday shopping season arrives, and then we're afraid to risk a trip to the store to get the few things on our lists, where does that leave retailers?

The chains and local stores aren't just businesses, they're employers.

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