What to expect when you are expecting

Even though the holiday selling season isn’t over yet, it doesn’t feel unnatural to start setting expectations for 2009. As much as 2008 was a stress test for the electronics industry, 2009 is likely to raise our anxiety levels further and require even more constant monitoring than we needed last year to avoid heart failure.

Undoubtedly the first half of 2009 will be miserable, and not just because the first half of almost every year is miserable. NPD’s Consumer Spending Indicator does not provide much room for optimism. While we don’t offer forecasts, we can offer a bit of guidance/observations on some key signposts to watch for in the first half of the year that might provide some clue as to the level of anxiety to expect in the back half.

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