The retail sector has been spurred by a tailwind of positive economic data from the Commerce Department with retail sales increasing by 0.5% in July–more than anticipated, which signals that the economy is full steam ahead in the third quarter thus far. Retail ETFs are posed to gain, but with three times the leverage, Direxion Daily Retail Bull 3X ETF (NYSEArca: RETL) could turn a downtown window shopping stroll into a full-on spending spree for retail investors.
Based on Yahoo! Finance performance figures, RETL is up 23.72% year-to-date and 59.26% the past year. Since May, RETL has climbed above its 50-day moving average, touched down that level in early August and is now back above, which could be due to a boost from the back-to-school shopping season.
Related: Data Bodes Well for Retail ETFs
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.
For this school year, retail shops are expecting a robust shopping season as multinational professional firm Deloitte is forecasting that this year’s back-to-school spending will increase by 2.2 percent to $27.6 billion, with the average spending per household rising to $510 from $501 last year, including $112 on school supplies–up from $104 the previous year.
