“Widening the scope reveals call buying has been quite popular across the major options exchanges in recent weeks. At the International Securities Exchange (ISE), Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX), XLY’s 10-day call/put volume ratio of 10.74 ranks in the 100th annual percentile, pointing to an extreme preference for long calls over puts,” according to Schaeffer’s.
Earlier this month, index providers S&P and MSCI revealed they will be altering the telecom sector and renaming it communication services, meaning some of the media stocks currently held in XLY and rival cap-weighted consumer discretionary ETFs will leave that sector for the new communication services group. XLY allocates 22.3% of its weight to media stocks, its second-largest industry behind Internet retail.
Rivals to XLY include the Vanguard Consumer Discretionary (NYSEArca: VCR) and Fidelity MSCI Consumer Discretionary Index (NYSEArca: FDIS).
For more information on the consumer sector, visit our consumer discretionary category.