How spread betters can profit despite retail gloom

Things have taken a turn for the worse on the high street. But for spread betters, market gloom holds as much profit potential as market joy, says Tim Bennett.

Things have taken a turn for the worse on the high street. According to the BRC retail sales were down in February - like for like (stripping out new space) they were down 0.4% while total sales rose 1.1%. The end result is the worst monthly performance since 2009.

Dig down however and the figures make truly grim reading for specific parts of the sector. Given that footwear and food and drink retailers saw limited growth "clothing, furniture and electrical retailers saw sharply negative sales" according to consultancy KPMG.

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Tim graduated with a history degree from Cambridge University in 1989 and, after a year of travelling, joined the financial services firm Ernst and Young in 1990, qualifying as a chartered accountant in 1994.

He then moved into financial markets training, designing and running a variety of courses at graduate level and beyond for a range of organisations including the Securities and Investment Institute and UBS. He joined MoneyWeek in 2007.