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XRT

SPDR S&P Retail ETF

6/20/2013, 4:50 AM ET

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Friday, May 31, 8:45 AM A below par reading on personal spending for April was affected by lower gas prices and home heating bills and isn't a biting indictment on retail spending (AEO, ANF, ARO, BBBY, BBY, BJ, CHS, COH, COST, DG, DLTR, GPS, HD, JCP, JWN, KSS, LOW, LTD, M, NDN, NKE, ODP, PIR, PLCE, RSH, SKS, SPLS, TGT, TJX, URBN, WMT, WSM, ZLC), according to economists. Auto sales also cooled off just a bit in April which had an impact. So far, retail trends have been largely favorable in May as the height of the spring selling season shifted a few weeks later. 4 Comments [Consumer]
Friday, May 10, 12:32 PM A number of retailers are seeing some speculative buying after True Religion TRLG lands a takeover offer and Gap puts in a powerhouse month for sales to help lift sentiment. The S&P Retail ETF (XRT) is up 1.1%, but might be doing better on the day if not for its heavy weighting currently into drugstore and grocery stocks. Gainers: FNP +4.1%, JOEZ +2.3%, VFC +1.5%, JNY +1.9%, GES +2.1%, APP +2.2%, BKE +1.5%. 1 Comment [Consumer, On the Move]
Thursday, May 9, 11:55 AM Retail stocks (XRT) were bid up a bit too much, according to AlixPartners' Steve Nevill. High-profile misses on April sales from Limited Brands (LTD -1.8%) and Costco (COST -0.3%) - as well as the soft Q1 numbers from Ann (ANN +4.3%) and Wet Seal (WTSL +5.7%) show that Wall Street might have been expecting too big of a bounce in consumer spending too soon. The price-aware climate appears just right for TJX Companies (TJX +0.8%) and Ross Stores (ROST +0.3%) though, as the pair kept up its winning ways during the month. Comment! [Consumer]
Monday, May 6, 7:27 AM The S&P 500 (SPY) is fairly valued, says Goldman, but opportunity lies in cyclicals (XLY, XLE, XLI, XLB) which are more undervalued vs. defensives (XLU, XLP, XLV, XTL) than at any time in the last 15 years. "Given the 4 P/E multiple point head start, even a slight valuation normalization should translate into outperformance of cyclicals over defensives during the next 12 months." 1 Comment
Friday, May 3, 8:00 AM "We don't want to sell in May and we continue to prefer cyclicals (XLY, XLI, XLB, XLE) ," says JPMorgan's Tom Lee, fully returned to his normal bullish stance. He notes client positioning is "dramatically different" from the heavily long stance of the last 3 years at this time. More, the downturn in gasoline prices could ad 50 bps to GDP in Q2, and the rally in high-yield suggests the economy is set to get stronger. 1 Comment
Tuesday, April 23, 6:19 AM The Senate yesterday voted 74-20 to limit debate on legislation that would force retailers to collect taxes for online sales, opening the way for a final vote on the measure, which could take place this week. The White House officially backed the bill for the first time, although its prospects in the House are uncertain even if its passes the Senate. Comment! [Consumer]
Thursday, April 18, 12:30 PM Department store chains are trading weak with weak economic indicators and chatter on weak sales trends at Wal-Mart (WMT -1.5%) swaying sentiment. The sector is already a bit jitterish with Target's (TGT -0.9%) Q1 sales warnings from earlier in the week still resonating. Decliners include Sears Holdings (SHLD -2.5%), Nordstrom (JWN -1.4%), Saks (SKS -1.6%), and Macy's (M -1.2%) - while Fred's (FRED +0.1%) and J.C. Penney (JCP +1.6%) are bucking the trend. Comment! [Consumer, On the Move]
Tuesday, March 26, 9:28 AM Opinions on retail sales are differing with today's Redbook report on chain store sales indicating consumers are stocking up on spring goods while ISCS-Goldman warned earlier that a batch of winter storms is keeping sales of spring goods lower. The contradicting views follows a familiar path in retail with some analysts seeing the glass half-full (consumer confidence up) and others half-empty (paychecks lower). The tale of the tape shows retail mildly underperforming broad market indexes: S&P Retail ETF (XRT) +7.6% YTD vs. S&P 500 +8.8%. Comment! [Consumer, U.S. Economy]
Friday, March 15, 2:53 PM Consumer wrapup: An improved jobs situation and a break upward in the value of houses seems to be trumping higher payroll taxes as consumers continue to spend more than some of the more dire forecasts for the first half of 2012 foreshadowed. By sector, Staples (XLP), Discretionary (XLY), and Retail (XRT) are all double-digit gainers for the year, while defensive-oriented plays (PG, CLX, CL, REV, GIS) have been busy tracking higher. A couple of retail powerhouses - Wal-Mart (WMT) and TJX Companies (TJX) - haven't joined the 2013 frivolity just yet and the department store group (M, SKS, DDS, JWN, KSS, JCP) has lagged. Comment! [Consumer, Quick Ideas]
Tuesday, March 5, 3:36 PM Retailers worried about delayed tax refunds won't have to wait too much longer as 85% of Americans expect to get a refund, according to Capital One, with 35% of those planning to spend all or part of it - roughly inline with previous years. Tax hikes: 42% are aware of their shrinking paycheck this year, but 30% had no idea. Comment! [U.S. Economy]
Thursday, February 28, 9:28 AM Daily ETF flows show a lot of action in the SPDR Retail ETF (XRT), which added 8.6% to AUM amid a lot of news and movement in the sector yesterday. The VXX - which saw a big run-up in price and interest over the past week - saw assets flee (-15.6%) as stocks rebounded and volatility dropped. 1 Comment
Friday, February 15, 2:41 PM The XLP, XRT, and XLY all give up gains and turn lower following Wal-Mart sounding the warning over the effects of the payroll tax hike. It's fascinating that it took markets until just now to react to what was crystal clear 6 weeks ago. 2 Comments [Consumer, On the Move]
Thursday, February 14, 10:46 AM A strong January forced short-sellers to cover their bets in several prominent ETFs, with both SPY and IWM seeing an 11% reduction in the percentage of their float shorted. The MSCI EAFE Index Fund (EFA) - with heavy exposure to Europe - saw a 24% reduction in shorts. Seeing an increase in activity is the SPDR Retail ETF (XRT) - 259% of the fund's float is now being shorted. Comment!
Thursday, February 7, 9:14 AM Retail ETFs (XRT, XLY, PMR, RTH) suddenly look a bit more attractive with a rush of department stores reporting stronger-than-expected January same-store sales. Though part of the gains were from a calendar effect and pent-up demand due to the fiscal cliff drama, in the larger context key firms (JWN, M, URBN) are proving that their omni-channel approach to sales through seamlessly tying in mobile devices to web and brick-and-mortar strategy is working. Comment! [Consumer, Quick Ideas]
Wednesday, January 30, 9:11 AM Quick question: What's the biggest holding in the SPDR Retail ETF (XRT)? It's Netflix, with 1.68% of assets. Money poured into the XRT yesterday, with the fund growing AUM by 31.25% (Amazon is a 1.07% holding). The Transports (IYT) saw a big inflow, growing AUM by 17.9%. Losing funds was the SPDR Oil & Gas Explorers (XOP), down 15%. Comment!
Tuesday, January 29, 10:16 AM No rocket science here: Nothing drops to the bottom line of consumer confidence numbers like smaller paychecks, and that's what Americans are seeing in 2013 thanks to higher payroll and income taxes. Today's 58.6 read missed expectations by a mile and the outlook for employment fell as well, with those anticipating more jobs declining to 14.3% from 17.9%. The XLY slides 0.8%, the XRT -0.7%. 23 Comments [U.S. Economy]

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