{"id":7312,"date":"2014-01-15T16:01:40","date_gmt":"2014-01-15T21:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leavittbrothers.com\/blog\/?p=7312"},"modified":"2014-01-15T16:01:40","modified_gmt":"2014-01-15T21:01:40","slug":"the-retail-sector-a-canary-in-a-coal-mine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/?p=7312","title":{"rendered":"The Retail Sector – A Canary in a Coal Mine?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the market continues to move up and I maintain my bullish bias, I’m constantly on the lookout for a “canary in the coal mine.” Most of the time nothing exists; every once in a while something pops up that gets my attention. Right now it’s the retailers. Many – not just a couple, many – have suffered big moves down lately, so I’m wondering if this hints at a weakening consumer.
\n<\/span>
\n XRT<\/strong> – in the grand scheme of things, this pullback is no big deal, but close up, it’s noteworthy the market is near its highs and XRT has made a lower high and lower low. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n AMZN<\/strong> – obivously not a pure retail play. It’s doing great. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n BBBY<\/strong> – a rock solid company that suddenly took a big hit.<\/span>
\n\"\"
\n BIG<\/strong> – 25% drop in six weeks. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n EXPR<\/strong> – they sell to young men and women, so is their weakness a reflection of the economy as seen through the eyes of a 25-yo?<\/span>
\n\"\"
\n GME<\/strong> – a specialty store that has given back a big chunk of its 2012 gains. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n GPS<\/strong> – it’s been struggling for a while.<\/span>
\n\"\"
\n KORS<\/strong> – higher end retailer still doing well over all, but it’s off its highs. When combined with WFM, you gotta wonder about the recession-proof rich. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n LULU<\/strong> – lots of company-specific issues here, but GPS is weak too, so maybe it’s broader than people think.<\/span>
\n\"\"
\n PVH<\/strong> – still doing well overall but couldn’t match the market’s recent new high. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n RL<\/strong> – has been flat for two years. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n ROST<\/strong> – a minor hiccup if you look at a long term chart but noticeable that’s been lagging for two months. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n SODA<\/strong> – another higher end discretionary stock struggling. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n VF<\/strong> – a great all-around company is doing very well. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n WFM<\/strong> – there are signs the higher end is struggling. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n WSM<\/strong> – hasn’t kept up for several months. <\/span>
\n\"\"
\n Retail is worth keeping an eye on. If the group can’t firm and at least keep pace, you gotta wonder what consumers are thinking and doing. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the market continues to move up and I maintain my bullish bias, I’m constantly on the lookout for a “canary in the coal mine.” Most of the time nothing exists; every once in a while something pops up that gets my attention. Right now it’s the retailers. Many – not just a couple, many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7312"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.leavittbrothers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}