What are the more likely performers according to the different phases in an economy? And what is the definition of performing?
Performing is always a relative measure a share can underperform, perform in line or outperform compared to, for example, another share, the sector in which the share is quoted, or a broader index such as the FTSE100. There are also a whole host of different measures of performance, from the share price, the Return on Capital Employed, growth earnings and so on (see previous answers to discover the meanings of these terms). Generally, certain stocks or sectors will perform better when the economy is strong and will suffer when any part of the economy is weak such stocks are called cyclical and a good current example of these would be the general retailers, who have been suffering throughout the year due to the consumer spending slowdown. Equally, car manufacturers and leisure and hotel groups fall into this category. Other categories are much less prone to a weak economy it is not that their shares will not go down, rather that they are likely to go down much less than others in the ma
