Late summertime blues for retail

• Retail sales are expected to show negative growth in August on a same-store basis, according to analysis from Thomson Reuters.
• The research firm sees a 0.2% decline in retail sales and a full percentage point drop if the drug store sector is backed out.
• Factors that impacted August traffic at stores includes the later Labor Day weekend this year, F/X pain for global sellers, and lower gas prices for chains with pumps.
• Mall retailers are expected to report soft traffic for the month as well as teens continue to be a hard group to pin down with cheap chic replacing margin-rich logo assortment.
• Key retail stocks: COST, GPS, TGT, WMT, ZUMZ, BKE, ARO, AEO, ANF.
• Related ETFs: XLP, XLY, VDC, XRT, VCR, RTH, RETL, FXG, PBJ, IYK, IYC, FXD, PEJ, FDIS, RHS, FSTA, SCC, UCC, RCD, PMR, PEZ, UGE, PSL, PSCC, PSCD, SZK