Five Reasons to Bet on Retail By Jeff Bagley About this article: Throughout my career on Wall Street I've looked for universal acceptance of a trend, theme or supposition. Why? Because in such cases, there is almost always opportunity to make money. By the time an idea is universally accepted by the masses to be truth, the market has probably reflected that truth. Contrarian investing doesn't always work -- especially recently! -- but one will never reap above-average returns by following the herd. One universally accepted truth is that retail is finished, and the prospects have never been worse. It's little wonder! Unemployment is bad and getting worse, consumers are deferring large purchases, and almost every retailer out there has said the same thing -- this is the most difficult environment in years. All true, and all extremely frightening. At the same time, this horrible backdrop is probably fully reflected in the stock prices. The Retail HOLDRs Trust has... Or, call us at 1-866-321-TSCM (8726) Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-6 p.m. ET. Outside the U.S. and in Canada, call 1-212-321-5200. More Stories From RealMoney Durable Goods Up Move Down the Tech Food Chain Jobless Claims Still High Bulls' Tenacity Is the Big Question Mark Should You Buy It? Pharmaceutical Product Development Bad News Trumps All Support for Banks Holds, For Now Bummer, Yields Are on the Rise Money on the Line Makes a Big Difference Structured Products: Unsafe at Any Price MORE STORIES FROM REALMONEY

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