Retail Sector and Related ETFs Get a Surprise Package

February 13, 2008 at 12:00 pm by Tom Lydon

The retail sector finally got some surprise good news, which brought retail exchange traded funds (ETFs) higher along with it.

The U.S. Commerce Department reported today that January retail sales rose 0.3%, reports Tomi Kilgore for Thomson Financial. It’s the exact opposite of what was expected: economists predicted a 0.3% drop. Sales are now at their highest levels since November.

This is a turnaround from earlier numbers. A survey by UBS-International Council of Shopping Centers had the nation’s retailers saying it was their worst January in nearly four decades.

The Retail HOLDRs (RTH) went up slightly after the news, and it had been down 0.3% just before the sales report was released. Year-to-date, it’s down 0.2%.

PowerShares Dynamic Retail (PMR) and the SPDR S&P Retail (XRT) are also up slightly in trading today. So far this year, PMR is down 1.3% while XRT is up 1.1%.