- Household spending by consumers increased 4.2% in Q2 to mark the best pace for the category since late in 2014.
- The strong read on consumer spending contrasts with the tightening by businesses amid Brexit fears, F/X pain, and political jitters.
- Retail ETFs trail broad stock market averages on the year after a May swoon, although most of the damage has been from the mall sector. Companies with a thriving e-commerce business and/or high mix of U.S. sales have held up.
- Despite the painful headline Q2 GPD miss today, the underlying resiliency shown by consumers could bode well for a variety of retailers such as Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN), Target (NYSE:TGT), Wal-Mart (NYSE:WMT), Costco (NASDAQ:COST), Kroger (NYSE:KR), Lululemon (NASDAQ:LULU), Dollar General (NYSE:DG), PriceSmart (NASDAQ:PSMT), and Williams-Sonoma (NYSE:WSM) to name a few (add your own ideas in the comments).
- Retail ETFs: XLP, XLY, VDC, XRT, VCR, RTH, RETL, FXG, PBJ, IYK, FXD, IYC, RHS, FDIS, PEJ, FSTA, PSL, SCC, RCD, UCC, PEZ, PMR, PSCC, UGE, PSCD, SZK, BITE, JHMS, IBUY, CNSF, CNDF, JHMC