ETF Plays for a Retail Recovery

Wall Street has always paid close attention to consumer behavior on Black Friday and during the run-up to the holidays. This year, however, that scrutiny will be particularly intense, because many retailers need robust sales during the next five weeks to salvage what has been a disappointing year.

ETFs for Retail Bets

For investors looking to make a play on the retail sector, there are several ETF options.

SPDR S&P Retail ETF(XRT): This ETF tracks the S&P Retail Select Industry Index, offering diversified exposure to both brick-and-mortar retailers like Wal-Mart(WMT), Target and Best Buy(BBY) and online merchants such as Amazon.com(AMZN). XRT has been one of the best performing sector-specific ETFs this year, gaining about 75%.

PowerShares Dynamic Retail Portfolio(PMR) (PMR): This ETF is based on an "Intellidex" benchmark that seeks to identify stocks poised for outperformance through proprietary quantitative analysis. About 65% of PMR's holdings are allocated to consumer discretionary stocks, with 22% to consumer staples and the remainder to industrials and technology companies. PMR has gained about 25% year to date.

Claymore/Robb Report Global Luxury Index ETF(ROB): As this ETF's name suggests, it focuses primarily on purveyors of luxury goods, including Swatch, Christian Dior, and BMW. As consumers have begun making big-ticket purchases once again, ROB has surged, gaining more than 50% so far this year.

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