The consumer sector is looking healthy once more but is it out of the woods?

Has the inherent stockmarket volatility dampened investor enthusiasm?

Is the internet purely the home for execution-only trades or does it offer a great deal more?

Since Mintel's last report on shareholding in October 2000, trading conditions have worsened and the UK equity market has become increasingly volatile. Consequently, many shareholders have suffered losses, particularly the more speculative investors who were drawn to the 'dot.com frenzy' in 1999. A series of IPOs from a number of new Internet companies, such as lastminute.com and Egg, lured many new investors looking to make a sizeable return. Yet the performance of these stocks has been disappointing and the telecoms, media and technology (TMT) sectors, in general, have been some of the worst affected. The FTSE techMARK 100 index is currently at its lowest level since its launch in November 1999.

The consumer sector is looking healthy once more but is it out of the woods?

Has the inherent stockmarket volatility dampened investor enthusiasm?

Is the internet purely the home for execution-only trades or does it offer a great deal more?

Since Mintel's last report on shareholding in October 2000, trading conditions have worsened and the UK equity market has become increasingly volatile. Consequently, many shareholders have suffered losses, particularly the more speculative investors who were drawn to the 'dot.com frenzy' in 1999. A series of IPOs from a number of new Internet companies, such as lastminute.com and Egg, lured many new investors looking to make a sizeable return. Yet the performance of these stocks has been disappointing and the telecoms, media and technology (TMT) sectors, in general, have been some of the worst affected. The FTSE techMARK 100 index is currently at its lowest level since its launch in November 1999.

As with previous reports on shareholding, Mintel focuses on the direct ownership of shares in a company by private investors, as opposed to indirect holdings through collective investments such as investment trusts or unit trusts. The latter are not covered extensively in this report, since they are dealt with in a separate Mintel report, Collective Investments, Finance Intelligence, August 2001.

Other Mintel reports of relevance include:

- ISAs, Finance Intelligence, May 2001

- Interactive Investing, Finance Intelligence, April 2001

- New Technology and Financial Services, Finance Intelligence, December 2000

- Wealth Management, Finance Intelligence, December 2000