Is The Fed A Dismal "Luxury Killer" In The Luxury Industry?

In March, warm and pleasant. However, "soft" such as fashion, leather goods and accessories. Luxury goods The industry did not synchronize with the seasons. On Tuesday, GUCCI (Gucci) parent company Kering released its fourth quarter and full year results last year. Last year, Kai Yun Group recorded the worst results since the financial crisis. Its main brand GUCCI fell 2.1% last year, and the fourth quarter was also down sharply. On Thursday, British handbag maker Mulberry (Mulberry) CEO Bruno Giron announced her resignation. During his two years in office, the shares fell 68% and the market value evaporated. Who should pay for the dismal performance of the luxury industry? Some analysts believe that the former chairman of the Federal Reserve Bernanke and now chairman Yellen are 2/3..

Although it would be a bit unnatural to push all the blame on the Fed, quantitative easing. policy (QE) exit does allow the luxury goods industry to enter the "cold winter". The QE policy has increased the value of assets owned by rich people such as stocks, bonds, houses, cars and artworks, giving them more money to buy handbags and fashion, but QE's withdrawal is just the opposite. Last May, when Bernanke first mentioned that QE quit, share prices of luxury goods such as Herm s, Prada (Prada), Kai Yun, Coach (Coach) and Burberry (Burberry) all fell. It is noteworthy that fashion brands such as Next, Inditex and H&M, whose brand identity and awareness are relatively low, are rising in the same period.

However, it can not be considered that QE is out of harm to luxury goods companies and good fashion brand retailers. The latter also benefited from low interest rates at the very beginning. Data show that Next's net profit growth reached 17%. last year, but with the increase in mortgage interest rates, such growth will be very fragile. At present, the price of fashion brand retailers is not much cheaper than that of luxury goods companies. Inditex and H&M share about 25 times the expected profit, more than Prada and Burberry.

For those keen to buy luxury goods stocks Investment The stability of profitability has always been an important consideration because the customers of these enterprises are very high-end and are usually not affected by changes in external situations. However, the exit of QE has given a big question mark to this idea.