One economist doesn’t see things turning around until gas and food prices retreat – no kidding. Those were the days when gas was $3 a gallon, weren’t they?
Retail-related ETFs are slightly mixed so far today. Will they be able to hang on? Consumer spending accounts for two-thirds of the economy, so any pullback in that area could only hurt further.
- iShares Dow Jones US Consumer Goods (IYK), down 5.4% year-to-date
- SPDR S&P Retail (XRT), down 4.6% year-to-date
- Rydex S&P Equal Weight Consumer Staples (RHS), down 4% year-to-date
- Retail HOLDRs (RTH), up 0.3% year-to-date
For full disclosure, some of Tom Lydon’s clients own shares of RTH.