The markets continued their low volatility streak as the broader indices showed relatively little movement. Tech stocks once again led the way with the Nasdaq up around 0.3% but the Dow and S&P 500 down modestly. The financial markets drew little attention though as Washington and the Comey firing dominated the headlines. It’s important to remember that these events aren’t really going to impact the markets directly.
The retail sector got hammered this past week as I’ll discuss shortly. Earnings from Kohl’s (KSS), JCPenney (JCP), Macy’s (M) and Nordstrom (JWN) simply confirmed how troubled the sector is right now. Kohl’s performed the “best†by dropping “only†9% but the others lost well into the double digits this week.
The economic calendar is relatively light and shouldn’t be expected to disrupt the current market calm. Housing starts data comes on Tuesday and initial jobless claims are on Thursday. Both are expected to confirm the continuation of recent trends and the overall current strength of the economy.
With the financial markets largely taking a back seat, I’m going to focus on a few broader themes as well as a new dividend ETF in this week’s watchlist. Here are my four ETFs to keep an eye on in the coming week.
SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT)
The news for retail has been nothing but bad for a while (except for Amazon (AMZN), of course, which continues to put traditional brick and mortar out of business). The news was especially bad this past week and, unfortunately, it will likely continue this week.
Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS), Target (TGT), American Eagle (AEO), Bon-Ton Stores (BONT), Ralph Lauren (RL), The Buckle (BKE), Ross Stores (ROST) and The Gap (GPS) all report this week with others such as Walmart (WMT) and Home Depot (HD).
The Retail ETF was down about 3% this week and 4% for 2017 thus far. There doesn’t seem to be much reason to own this fund unless you’re betting on a long term turnaround or like trying to catch falling knives.
