VCR News and Press, Vanguard Consumer Discretion From 01/19/21

COVID-19 didn't cause physical retail's steep decline - it just accelerated it. Retail survivors and thrivers will invest in the apps and digital tools that eliminate friction from the shopping experience. Consumers in the U.S., U.K., and Australia consistently rate the in-store s...

VCR has continued to perform very strongly, but that is due almost entirely in its increasing concentration in just two stocks. Several hot new IPO stocks have been added to VCR, but in such tiny quantities as to make them a nonfactor in its performance. VCR's dividend has decreas...

Consumer spending fell 0.4% in November, its first drop since the April when the Coronacrisis was about at its worst. Bankruptcies of major US companies scaled old heights in December to finally hit their 2011 levels with 16 major companies filing in December. Job losses jumped fo...

In the second quarter, real household spending fell at an annualized rate of 33%. Relative strength in consumer stocks slipped this fall, although the sector is still the second-best performer year-to-date. Fungible spending creates an opportunity to invest in market segments that...

The economic recovery that arises from COVID vaccination will bring relief to some retailers, but what about those whose sales grew during the pandemic? Will they enjoy permanently higher sales, or return to normal, or will they learn that their 2020 sales gains were simply borrowing ...

Retail sales fell 1.1% M/M in November during a month that saw many Black Friday shopping events pushed to earlier on the calendar in a pandemic adjustment which impacted the month-to-month comparison. Retail sales actually rose 4.1% on a Y/Y comparison. After stripping out auto and gas, reta...

Oppenheimer throws some gloom on top of what has been generally positive forecasts for holiday retail sales, although investors with a longer time frame are seen having an opportunity to take advantage. Analyst Rupesh Parikh: "With growing COVID-19 infections and state-specific restrictions s...

The National Retail Federation says it saw the expected shift to digital by consumers during the Black Friday to Cyber Monday shopping period, For the first time ever, the number of online shoppers on Black Friday topped 100M and was 8% higher than a year ago. Overall, there were 186M shopper...

Navigating the holiday season during the COVID-19 pandemic is sure to heighten anxiety levels for retailers and consumers alike in 2020. But US consumers have found a way to spend money amid the chaos and retail has been a key beneficiary of a widespread shift in spending from service...

Many retailers are hoping that this year's Black Friday/holiday promotions will help them back into the black. Currently, many retailers are promoting new item-level markdowns, to give shoppers first dibs on merchandise they've had their eyes on. What's surprising is the amount of...