Retail Stocks Have Their Best Day Of The Year, But That’s Not Saying Much

Retail stocks rallied in their best day of the year, after Target raised its second-quarter earnings forecast, boosting hopes that others in the sector are also seeing improvement. But even with the one day of euphoria in some of the worst performing retail names, many major brick-and-mortar chains are still extremely depressed, having seen their market cap dissolve this year as shoppers move online. The XRT, the SPDR S&P Retail ETF, closed up 2.3 percent, its best day since Nov. 22. J.C. Penney, for instance, jumped 7.8 percent Thursday, but its stock is down more than 40 percent year to date, and Macy’s was up 4 percent but is down 37 percent since the start of the year. Target stock closed up 4.8 percent to $53.31 per share, after it said it expects earnings above the high end of its previous forecast range, which was 95 cents to $1.15 per share. Target said it saw broad-based sales improvement in the second quarter, raising hopes that a range of other chain stores are also experiencing a rebound. Read more at CNBC.