The strong U.S. dollar has weighed on large-cap companies with overseas foreign exchange exposure, but small-cap consumer sector exchange traded funds may capitalize on improved growth at home.
For instance, ETF investors can use the PowerShares S&P SmallCap Consumer Staples Portfolio (NasdaqGM: PSCC) and PowerShares S&P SmallCap Consumer Discretionary Portfolio (NasdaqGM: PSCD) cover the consumer staples and consumer discretionary sectors from the S&P SmallCap 600 Index, respectively. Over the past year, PSCC rose 13.2% and PSCD increased 11.9%.
“Because of the strong dollar, you’re seeing a rotation out of the larger S&P constituents into smaller caps (that focus on the U.S. consumer),” Dan Veru, chief investment officer at Palisade Capital Management, said in a CNBC article.
For instance, year-to-date, investors pulled $61.2 million from the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLP) and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLY) saw $588.1 million in outflows, according to ETF.com data.
XLP’s market capitalization includes 53.2% mega-caps, 37.8% large-caps and 8.0% mid-caps, compared to PSCC’s 68.8% small-caps and 31.2% micro-caps. XLY holds 35.8% mega-caps, 43.2% large-caps and 20.8% mid-caps, compared to PSCD’s 65.2% small-caps and 34.8% micro-caps.