Retail stocks and sector-related ETFs enjoyed one of their best weeks in almost a year as the down-and-out segment rebounds ahead of the traditional holiday season shopping spree.
The SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSEArca: XRT), the largest retail ETF, gained 0.4% Monday and was up 3.9% over the past week. Nevertheless, XRT is still down 4.1% year-to-date and remains one of the worst performing areas of the market this year.
Brick-and-mortar retail market strengthened last week on the back of better-than-anticipated third quarter earnings results, such as Wal-Mart and Foot Locker, reports Chris Dieterich for the Wall Street Journal.
The retail sector has been under pressure on the rise of e-commerce outlets, like Amazon.com. Meanwhile, traditional brick-and-mortar stores are shutting down, with the threat of bankruptcy for smaller players, dragging on the broader retail segment.
ProShares also recently rolled out the ProShares Decline of the Retail Store ETF (NYSEArca: EMTY) and ProShares Long Online/Short Stores ETF (NYSE Arca: CLIX) to help traders capitalize on the misfortunes of brick-and-mortar retailers.
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Traditional retailers, though, may find that their luck is changing. According to a Deloitte LP survey, only 47% of U.S. consumers expect to shop online during this year’s Black Friday, compared to 55% last year. Meanwhile, two-thirds of respondents expect to walk into brick-and-mortar stores. Nevertheless, shoppers expect to spend 52% of their budgets online over the course of the holiday weekend, Bloomberg reports.
“A lot of folks going home for the holiday might go out with their mother, grandmother or friend,” Rod Sides, vice chairman at Deloitte, told Bloomberg. “That does really bode well for brick-and-mortar guys.”
Sides also pointed out that shoppers are increasingly turning to brick-and-mortar stores for smaller items.
“Folks are going to stores for clothing and accessories,” Sides said. “Bigger-ticket items are probably bought online.”
For more information on the retail sector, visit our retail category.