Weekly S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary Winners and Losers: Wynn Resorts Leads, eBay Lags Behind
Consumer Discretionary Sector Performance
- Weekly Performance: The S&P 500 Consumer Discretionary sector experienced a decline of 0.38% for the week ending August 29, contrasting with the S&P 500's gain of 0.33%. Year-to-date, the sector's return stands at 3.29%, significantly lower than the S&P 500's 9.84% rise, indicating ongoing weakness in this sector relative to the broader market.
Top Gainers in the Sector
- Wynn Resorts: The stock surged by 10.88% after UBS upgraded its rating from Hold to Buy, citing a positive outlook for the Al Marjan resort.
- Deckers Outdoor: Increased by 9.65%.
- Royal Caribbean Cruises: Rose by 5.38%.
- Las Vegas Sands: Gained 4.69% following a price target increase from $55 to $65 by UBS, reflecting better performance at its Macau properties.
- MGM Resorts International: Up 4.28% after UBS raised its price target from $42 to $44, linked to improved performance in Macau and the launch of a new partnership phase with Playtech.
Top Losers in the Sector
- eBay: Fell by 8.68%.
- Williams-Sonoma: Decreased by 7.49% despite exceeding Q2 earnings expectations and raising full-year guidance, as concerns over tariffs affected stock performance.
- Ulta Beauty: Dropped 6.94% despite strong Q2 results, attributed to a conservative outlook for the second half of the year.
- Avery Dennison: Declined by 3.84% after announcing a $390 million acquisition of Meridian Adhesives Group's U.S. flooring adhesives business.
- Chipotle Mexican Grill: Decreased by 3.44%, with the CEO emphasizing the company's strong value and innovative menu as drivers for future sales recovery.
Monthly Performance Overview
Top Gainers in August:
- Expedia Group: +19.2%
- Lennar: +18.7%
- D.R. Horton: +18.7%
- PulteGroup: +16.9%
- Wynn Resorts: +16.3%
Top Losers in August:
- Ball Corp: -8.1%
- Amcor: -7.7%
- Tapestry: -5.8%
- Ulta Beauty: -4.3%
- Norwegian Cruise Line: -2.8%
Notable Consumer Discretionary ETFs
- Key ETFs include XLY, VCR, FXD, FDIS, RSPD, and RXI, which track the performance of the consumer discretionary sector.
Future Outlook
- Consumer Spending Recovery: Analysts suggest that a notable recovery in consumer spending may not occur until 2026, with economic growth and potential rate cuts expected to influence the consumer discretionary sector positively.
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10 Stocks That Achieved Significant Gains Despite a Slow 2025 for Consumer Discretionary
Consumer Discretionary Sector Performance: The S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector has underperformed in 2025, gaining only 7.1% year-to-date, which is below the overall S&P 500 performance and ranks seventh among the 11 major sectors.
Top-Performing Stocks: Despite the sector's struggles, certain stocks have excelled, with Tapestry leading at +91.9% YTD, followed by Ralph Lauren and Expedia Group with gains of 60.2% and 53.2%, respectively.
ETF Performance: The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY), which manages approximately $24.5 billion, has increased by about 9% this year, reflecting the sector's modest growth.
Market Trends: Investors are shifting towards higher-growth sectors, particularly Communication Services, which has become the top performer in 2025, highlighting a broader trend of rotation in market investments.
Inflation Eases, Optimism Rises — Will These Themes Spark an ETF Rally?
U.S. Economic Data Impact: Recent U.S. economic data, including cooling inflation and improved consumer sentiment, has led to increased expectations for a potential Federal Reserve rate cut in December, positively influencing ETF markets.
ETF Investor Trends: Lower rate expectations are benefiting large-cap growth ETFs like Invesco QQQ Trust and Vanguard Growth ETF, while smaller companies may gain traction if borrowing costs decrease, with small-cap growth ETFs starting to attract attention.
Sector Performance Outlook: A potential rate cut could enhance the performance of discretionary ETFs, such as State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF, while consumer staples ETFs may lose some appeal as defensive investments.
Market Sentiment and Predictions: The S&P 500 is nearing record highs, and with an 87.2% probability of a quarter-point rate move indicated by the CME FedWatch tool, ETF investors are likely adjusting their strategies in anticipation of the Fed's decision.
SA Quant identifies Goldman’s discretionary stocks with the largest drop in hedge fund interest.
Hedge Fund Rotation: Goldman Sachs analysts observed that hedge funds shifted their investments from consumer discretionary stocks to health care stocks in Q3 2025.
Top Performing Stocks: The analysis highlighted Aptiv and Coupang as the top consumer discretionary stocks with strong performance and Buy ratings, despite hedge fund exits.
Quant Ratings Overview: Seeking Alpha’s Quant system rates stocks on a scale of 1 to 5, with ratings above 3.5 indicating bullish sentiment, while ratings below 2.5 suggest bearish outlooks.
Consumer Discretionary Sector Insights: The article also references various consumer discretionary ETFs and discusses the potential impact of the labor market on holiday sales and consumer resilience.
Retail Stocks to Monitor During Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Retail Sales Focus: The Consumer Discretionary sector is in the spotlight this week as Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach, with investors hopeful for a year-end boost in spending despite the sector's weak performance this year.
Top Consumer Discretionary Stocks: Seeking Alpha has identified the top 10 U.S. large-cap Consumer Discretionary companies based on its Quant Rating framework, with Wayfair leading the list.
Quant Ratings Overview: The top-rated companies include Coupang, TJX Companies, Ulta Beauty, and Ross Stores, all with quant ratings above 3.0, indicating strong potential as the holiday shopping season begins.
Investment Options: Investors can explore various Consumer Discretionary and retail-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to gain exposure to this sector during the holiday season.
Amazon's Earnings Surge Highlights the ETF Market
Amazon's Strong Quarterly Results: Amazon shares rose 11.5% after exceeding Wall Street expectations in net sales, profit, and subscription revenue, with its AWS unit showing a 20% year-over-year growth.
Impact on Tech Sector: The positive earnings report boosted the Nasdaq Composite and improved sentiment in various ETFs heavily invested in Amazon, which is included in 617 ETFs owning over 1.3 billion shares.
Top ETFs Holding Amazon: The article lists the top 10 ETFs with the largest allocations to Amazon, including Global X PureCap MSCI Consumer Discretionary ETF and ProShares Online Retail ETF, with allocations ranging from 19.92% to 34.77%.
Amazon's Performance Metrics: Over the past month, Amazon's stock increased by 2.1%, with a 6-month gain of 20.8% and a year-to-date increase of 1.5%, alongside various ratings from analysts and Wall Street.
Weekly S&P 500 Consumer Cyclical Highlights: Best Buy Rises to the Top, Ulta Beauty Declines
Consumer Discretionary Sector Performance: In the week ending October 17, the Consumer Discretionary sector rose 0.24%, outperforming the S&P 500's 0.14% gain, but its year-to-date return of 4.49% lags behind the S&P 500's 13.30%.
Top Gainers and Losers: Best Buy led the gainers with a 13.18% increase, while Ulta Beauty was the biggest loser, down 2.87%. Notable mentions include Starbucks (+8.79%) and Las Vegas Sands (-2.16%).
10 Stocks That Achieved Significant Gains Despite a Slow 2025 for Consumer Discretionary
Consumer Discretionary Sector Performance: The S&P 500 consumer discretionary sector has underperformed in 2025, gaining only 7.1% year-to-date, which is below the overall S&P 500 performance and ranks seventh among the 11 major sectors.
Top-Performing Stocks: Despite the sector's struggles, certain stocks have excelled, with Tapestry leading at +91.9% YTD, followed by Ralph Lauren and Expedia Group with gains of 60.2% and 53.2%, respectively.
ETF Performance: The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLY), which manages approximately $24.5 billion, has increased by about 9% this year, reflecting the sector's modest growth.
Market Trends: Investors are shifting towards higher-growth sectors, particularly Communication Services, which has become the top performer in 2025, highlighting a broader trend of rotation in market investments.
Inflation Eases, Optimism Rises — Will These Themes Spark an ETF Rally?
U.S. Economic Data Impact: Recent U.S. economic data, including cooling inflation and improved consumer sentiment, has led to increased expectations for a potential Federal Reserve rate cut in December, positively influencing ETF markets.
ETF Investor Trends: Lower rate expectations are benefiting large-cap growth ETFs like Invesco QQQ Trust and Vanguard Growth ETF, while smaller companies may gain traction if borrowing costs decrease, with small-cap growth ETFs starting to attract attention.
Sector Performance Outlook: A potential rate cut could enhance the performance of discretionary ETFs, such as State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF, while consumer staples ETFs may lose some appeal as defensive investments.
Market Sentiment and Predictions: The S&P 500 is nearing record highs, and with an 87.2% probability of a quarter-point rate move indicated by the CME FedWatch tool, ETF investors are likely adjusting their strategies in anticipation of the Fed's decision.
SA Quant identifies Goldman’s discretionary stocks with the largest drop in hedge fund interest.
Hedge Fund Rotation: Goldman Sachs analysts observed that hedge funds shifted their investments from consumer discretionary stocks to health care stocks in Q3 2025.
Top Performing Stocks: The analysis highlighted Aptiv and Coupang as the top consumer discretionary stocks with strong performance and Buy ratings, despite hedge fund exits.
Quant Ratings Overview: Seeking Alpha’s Quant system rates stocks on a scale of 1 to 5, with ratings above 3.5 indicating bullish sentiment, while ratings below 2.5 suggest bearish outlooks.
Consumer Discretionary Sector Insights: The article also references various consumer discretionary ETFs and discusses the potential impact of the labor market on holiday sales and consumer resilience.
Retail Stocks to Monitor During Black Friday and Cyber Monday
Retail Sales Focus: The Consumer Discretionary sector is in the spotlight this week as Black Friday and Cyber Monday approach, with investors hopeful for a year-end boost in spending despite the sector's weak performance this year.
Top Consumer Discretionary Stocks: Seeking Alpha has identified the top 10 U.S. large-cap Consumer Discretionary companies based on its Quant Rating framework, with Wayfair leading the list.
Quant Ratings Overview: The top-rated companies include Coupang, TJX Companies, Ulta Beauty, and Ross Stores, all with quant ratings above 3.0, indicating strong potential as the holiday shopping season begins.
Investment Options: Investors can explore various Consumer Discretionary and retail-focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to gain exposure to this sector during the holiday season.
Amazon's Earnings Surge Highlights the ETF Market
Amazon's Strong Quarterly Results: Amazon shares rose 11.5% after exceeding Wall Street expectations in net sales, profit, and subscription revenue, with its AWS unit showing a 20% year-over-year growth.
Impact on Tech Sector: The positive earnings report boosted the Nasdaq Composite and improved sentiment in various ETFs heavily invested in Amazon, which is included in 617 ETFs owning over 1.3 billion shares.
Top ETFs Holding Amazon: The article lists the top 10 ETFs with the largest allocations to Amazon, including Global X PureCap MSCI Consumer Discretionary ETF and ProShares Online Retail ETF, with allocations ranging from 19.92% to 34.77%.
Amazon's Performance Metrics: Over the past month, Amazon's stock increased by 2.1%, with a 6-month gain of 20.8% and a year-to-date increase of 1.5%, alongside various ratings from analysts and Wall Street.
Weekly S&P 500 Consumer Cyclical Highlights: Best Buy Rises to the Top, Ulta Beauty Declines
Consumer Discretionary Sector Performance: In the week ending October 17, the Consumer Discretionary sector rose 0.24%, outperforming the S&P 500's 0.14% gain, but its year-to-date return of 4.49% lags behind the S&P 500's 13.30%.
Top Gainers and Losers: Best Buy led the gainers with a 13.18% increase, while Ulta Beauty was the biggest loser, down 2.87%. Notable mentions include Starbucks (+8.79%) and Las Vegas Sands (-2.16%).
