consumers deferred buying until x'mas sales (no point in buying high when you can buy cheaper later attitude). bit like buying shares in march 2003. so where does that leave us?
their fourth quarter 2003 profit has come after christmas and their 1st quarter 2004 profit has come between christmas and the new year. we seem to be distributing profit between two quarters instead of each one!
assuming we have no right shoulder at present, if sales are good then the right shoulder pattern might begin to take shape in 2004.