U.S. stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs) are trading down this morning on news of lower oil and metal prices dragging down commodity producers, a higher-than-expected contraction of the U.K. economy and as investors cash in on some of this month’s biggest gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged almost 21% over the last 13 trading sessions, and it was just a matter of time before the markets retreated. Additionally, a dip in personal disposable income and a slowdown in personal spending didn’t help the rally extend its run.

It’s not all bad news on Wall Street. KB Homes (KBH) posted a loss that was lower than most analysts expected. The homebuilder was expected to post a loss around 0.95 cents per share and ended up showing a loss of 0.75 per share, states Daniel Taub of Bloomberg. This resulted in a nice jump in the company’s stock by 7.3% during early morning trading. Unfortunately, this good news in combination with the unexpected increase in new home sales couldn’t extend a rally in the homebuilder sector. The SPDR S&P Homebuilders (XHB), was down about 1% in intraday trading; KB is 3.8%.

Another outperformer was apparel giant, Finish Line (FINL). Although the company failed to hit its revenue forecasts, its profit numbers outperformed analysts’ expectations by 2 cents per share, as a result of lighter inventories and cost-cutting measures, states Reuters. This good news enabled the stock to jump about 11% in intraday trading.

Although these two companies performed relatively well, it is still pretty tough out there. The tough times can be seen through a deteriorating job market and falling incomes, which, in turn, means weaker consumer spending. Granted, the month of January boasted an increase in purchases of 1%, however, most experts account for this increase as a result of increased pricing, leaving so-called real spending with a decline, states Shobhana Chandra of Bloomberg.

The increased pricing has enabled the retail industry to put a little shine in its cloudiness of the past year. Just take a look at the SPDR Retail ETF (XRT), which is up 17% year to date.

We are still in a recession, but the pace of contraction has eased since the end of last year and some good news has prevailed.

Tags: Dow Jones Industrial Average, Homebuilders, Real Estate, Retail, Sector ETFs, XHB, XRT