...The positive credit quality trends in the retail and restaurants sector that began in the second half of 2020 continued through 2021. During the year, upgrades vastly outnumbered downgrades in this sector because issuers benefited from supportive macroeconomic trends, which enabled them to restore their credit quality (on average across the portfolio). Consumers started the year flush with cash accumulated from government stimulus payments and savings from their reduced spending on vacations and dining out during 2020. The warmer weather in the spring, the subsiding level of COVID-19 cases, and the rollout of vaccines spurred consumers to release their pent-up demand in malls and online, leading U.S. retail sales to rise by 10% in March 2021 relative to February and remain elevated through the year. In Europe too, the overall retail sales value index remained higher than before the pandemic for most of the year Consumers proved their resilience to the delta and omicron variants as the volume...
