Consumers take back seat as corporate revival looms

outlook

top fund managers see rising interest rate environment as negative for consumers

Schroders, Artemis, Threadneedle and MFS are not prepared to bet on the UK or US consumer in 2004 and are instead backing a revival by the corporate sector. All see a rising interest rate environment as negative for consumers but there is no consensus on what level rates would have to reach to spark a debt crisis. Keith Wade, chief economist at Schroders, said that in 2003 take-home pay in the UK fell for the first time since the Labour Government came to office as tax rises outstripped wage growth. "Consumer spending is being kept going by debt growth and this is not sustainable," he sa...