Vanguard Consumer Discretionary ETF seeks to track the performance of a benchmark index that measures the investment return of consumer discretionary stocks.
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Monday, April 29, 7:23 AM
Consumer spending watch: Gas prices are down 28% since February's peak and analysts see another 20% drop coming up in the next few months. A rough estimate of the impact of lower gas prices on consumer spending is that a dime drop translates into $13B back into the wallets of consumers. Companies that could see a boost from the trend include Wal-Mart (WMT), Target (TGT), and Costco (COST) - while ETFs such as Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (XLY), Vanguard Consumer Discretionary (VCR), PowerShares Dynamic Consumer Discretionary (PEZ), and Market Vectors Retail (RTH) could also benefit.
3 Comments[Consumer, Quick Ideas]
Tuesday, January 8, 3:29 PM
Vanguard's recent expense reduction means 9 of its 10 sector ETFs are now the cheapest available to U.S. investors. With an annual expense ratio of just 0.14%, VOX, VPU, VCR, VDC, VDE, VHT, VIS, VGT, and VAW stack up favorably vs. the 0.18% charged by State Street's Sector SPDRs (XLU, XLY, XLP, XLE, XLF, XLV, XLK, XLI, XLB and XTL which charges 0.35%) and the 0.47%-0.48% iShares sector ETFs (RXI, KXI, IYE, IYF, IYZ, IYH, IDU, IYW, IYM, IYJ) charge. At 0.19%, Vanguard Financials (VFH) is still slightly more expensive than the Financial SPDR (XLF).
2 Comments
Tuesday, January 8, 9:59 AM
Just before New Year's, Vanguard cut fees on more than a third of its U.S.-listed ETF lineup while raising fees on just 2 ETFs. Its sector ETFs saw the biggest price cuts (from 0.19% to 0.14%) while its 2 small cap funds (VIOO, VIOV) actually saw slight fee hikes.
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Wednesday, November 28, 2012, 8:01 AM
Anybody relying on reports of Black Friday sales to make investment decisions likely deserves to be separated from their money. Barry Ritholtz makes crystal clear the reality of retail sales doesn't come anywhere near the breathless headlines. The 2012 Hall of Shame for Black Friday reporting.
3 Comments[Consumer]
Friday, November 23, 2012, 11:18 AM
By the numbers there can be no denying Black Friday is a dominating national event. An estimated 147M Americans will participate in the shopping frenzy, compared to the mere 126M people that voted in the national election or the 112M who watched the last Super Bowl. Early reports on turnout has been strong, but the read-through to the bottom line of the retail sector won't be known until there is a better handle on the level of promotional activity pushed out by under-duress retailers such as J.C. Penney (JCP +1.6%) OfficeMax (OMX -0.7%), Best Buy (BBY +0.3%), and RadioShack (RSH).
5 Comments[Consumer]
Friday, November 23, 2012, 10:55 AM
Retail stocks as a group are trading with strength on optimism Black Friday will deliver a healthy kickoff to the holiday season spending season. While accounts of lines out the door at major stores are an encouraging - but largely anecdotal indicator - it's early numbers from Wal-Mart (WMT +1.2%) and a Dow Jones report tipping off strong online spending on Thanksgiving that may be really powering the mini-rally for big retail concerns such as Costco (COST +0.6%), J.C. Penney (JCP +1.8%), Sears Holdings (SHLD +0.4%), and Target (TGT +0.5%). (Previous: WMT hits 5K transaction per second at its peak)
1 Comment[Consumer]
Friday, July 27, 2012, 5:10 AM
The SEC and Department of Justice are considering starting an investigation of the retail sector for possible breaches of the anti-foreign bribery law, Reuters reports. The deliberations follow allegations about Wal-Mart's (WMT) practices in Mexico, and after other unnamed retailers reported possible offenses by their employees.
7 Comments[Consumer, Top Stories]
Saturday, July 7, 2012, 8:10 AM
Stocks haven't exactly been following oil's lead, but you can still feel crude's impact in two key sectors - energy and consumer discretionary - and that means you may want to target stocks like Dollar General (DG) and AutoZone (AZO) as well as ETFs like XLY and VCR.
8 Comments[Commodities, Quick Ideas]
Monday, April 16, 2012, 12:42 PMRetail sales are up 6.5% Y/Y and at an annualized rate of 10.4% in Q1, writes Brian Wesbury, taking a closer look at this morning's report. Excluding autos, gas, and building materials, annualized sales are up 8.1% in Q1, showing the gains are broad-based. It can't all just be about the weather?
7 Comments[U.S. Economy]
Friday, March 16, 2012, 10:21 AM
Taking its signal from rising bond yields, HSBC suggests cyclicals will outperform as higher rates are a sign nominal demand is rising. The main casualties: healthcare and consumer staples. As for being a threat to the entire market, HSBC believes this is only true at real yields above 4% (they're negative now), but "a sharp rise in bond yields is a threat from whatever level."
Comment![Quick Ideas, U.S. Economy]
Tuesday, January 10, 2012, 8:02 AMICSC Retail Store Sales:-5.4% W/W, vs. +1.2% last week. It's the largest weekly decline in data going back to 1989. +2.8% Y/Y, vs. +5.3% last week. Warm weather, and its negative effect on seasonal goods, is apparently behind the fall; weak consumer sentiment isn't mentioned.
6 Comments[Consumer, U.S. Economy]
Tuesday, December 27, 2011, 4:30 AMOnline shopping jumped 16.4% on Christmas from the year before, according to data released by IBM, while the dollar value of purchases made on mobile devices jumped 172.9%. In fact, nearly 7% of all online purchases on Christmas Day were made using iPads. The uptick was poised to continue yesterday, though final data isn't yet available.
Comment![Consumer, Tech]