The latest data from the Commerce Department revealed that September saw a mild rise in retail sales, edging higher by 0.1%–a 0.6% rise was forecasted by a Reuters poll of economists, but with holiday season looming, is the Direxion Daily Retail Bull 3X ETF (NYSEArca: RETL) in play?
The biggest retail ETFs based on total assets have struggled the past month–SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSEArca: XRT), Amplify Online Retail ETF (NadaqGM: IBUY) and VanEck Vectors Retail ETF (NYSEArca: RTH). However, the weakness in the retail sector could potentially make way for discounted buying opportunities as retailers begin to up the ante on hiring ahead of holiday shopping season.
Retailers like Target are raising its seasonal hires by 20%, while online retailers like Amazon expect to employ 100,000 workers.
“In a period of near full employment, retailers, logistics firms, transport, and warehousing are competing for talent and upping their employee offerings this holiday season to attract potential workers,” said Andrew Challenger, vice president of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, according to Reuters.
RETL seeks daily investment results of 300% of the daily performance of the S&P Retail Select Industry Index. RETL invests in securities found within the index, which is a modified equal-weighted index that measures the performance of the stocks comprising the S&P Total Market Index.
