Shares of Macy's (M) - Get Report are getting crushed on Wednesday -- down 15% following disappointing earnings results along with a cut to full-year guidance and a confirmation that management will not pursue a REIT-like structure.  

On CNBC's "Fast Money Halftime" show, Pete Najarian, co-founder of Optionmonster.com and Trademonster.com, said Macy's CEO Terry Lundgren made it seem like the current issues aren't Macy's-specific, but rather industry-wide problems

That may be the case, and investors will find out soon enough with earnings reports from Nordstrom (JWN) - Get Report and TJX  (TJX) - Get Report , the latter of which Najarian thinks could be a buying opportunity after the latest decline. 

Consumer discretionary and consumer staples have been two of the best performing sectors, globally speaking, according to Josh Brown, CEO and co-founder of Ritholtz Wealth Management. However, in the U.S., Brown pointed out that the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY) - Get Report is near all-time highs, while the retail-based SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) - Get Report is 12.5% off its highs. 

Clearly, department stores are struggling, while online retailers, travel companies and restaurants are doing much better, Brown said. "Retail is not doing well, the consumer is doing great," he added. 

Jon Najarian, co-founder of Optionmonster.com and Trademonster.com, touted a seasonal holiday trade consisting of buying retail stocks near the end of summer and selling ahead of Black Friday. However, this trade hasn't gone so well. Many traditional retailers have performed badly, while stocks like Amazon (AMZN) - Get Report and Alibaba (BABA) - Get Reportcontinue higher

Joseph Terranova, chief market strategist for Virtus Investment Partners, says he would rather buy Amazon over Alibaba right now. The company continues to grow revenues at more than 20% annually, has margin expansion potential and has Cyber Monday and Black Friday quickly approaching. Technically speaking, the stock's price action looks "absolutely sensational," he added. 

While Amazon is doing well, too many investors are already aware of its potential success, Brown said. It has experienced a 116% rally in 2015. Instead, he is long Alibaba -- which is finishing a record Singles Day. 

Although Alibaba does have some transparency and trust issues among investors -- and rightfully so, Brown said -- the stock seems to have more upside than Amazon right now. Alibaba shares appear to have bottomed in the $50s, Brown added. 

Jon Najarian agreed with Brown, saying that CEO Jeff Bezos has done a tremendous job at Amazon, but Alibaba seems to have more upside in the near term. 

Pete Najarian reminded investors of Amazon's other growth engine: the cloud. Amazon Web Services revenue has been climbing at a very rapid pace, helping to drive overall sales growth for the company. 

The conversation turned to interest rates. Rick Rieder, CIO of fundamental fixed income at BlackRock, joined the conversation. He says the Federal Reserveshould have raised rates already, and he expects it to do so in December. 

However, it won't be like most other rate hiking cycles, because the future rate hikes are not likely to be on a timetable. In other words, Rieder expects the Fed to hike, then observe additional data before determining when to raise once more. The pace will be very gradual, as the Fed will not want to do anything to hurt the economy.

The Fed will also have to incorporate the impact of the U.S. dollar, as well as how other global central banks are handling their monetary policy. Due to the gradual pace of rate raising, he doesn't expect too much impact on longer-dated bond yields and interest rates, which should keep capital expenditures, loans and mortgages and investments relatively unchanged. 

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.