Five Discretionary ETFs Your Broker Forgot To Mention

No, these are not the best of times for the U.S. consumer. With tepid gains in jobs, a stubbornly high unemployment rate and other economic data points that are merely lukewarm at best, many investors may not believe this is the time to cozy up to ETFs with a discretionary or retail focus. On the other hand, buying when there's blood on the street or into some strength as we've been seeing can be winning ideas. Hey, it should be noted the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR XLY has actually outperformed the S&P 500 in the past 90 days. With that, here are five discretionary or retail ETFs your broker forgot to tell you about. First Trust Consumer Discretionary AlphaDEX Fund FXD: Home to 125 stocks and nearly $347 million in assets under management, FXD falls in the middle of the discretionary ETF popularity contest. It's not as well known as XLY, but it's not completely undiscovered, either. No single name accounts for more than 1.52% of FXD's weight, but the ETF devotes more than 10% of its weight to the auto sector and that's something be aware of in this environment. Large exposure to specialty retail will be good when the market rebounds, but until that could pressure FXD unless the jobs scenario dramatically improves. Direxion Daily Retail Bull 2X Shares RETL: The Direxion Daily Retail Bull 2X Shares is one leveraged ETF that flies under the retail radar as highlighted by average daily volume that barely surpasses 1,300 shares. RETL just broke resistance at $59 and could run back to $64 before seeing next resistance. The ETF's bearish equivalent is the Direxion Daily Retail Bear 2X Shares RETS. PowerShares S&P SmallCap Consumer Discretionary Portfolio PSCD: The small-cap equivalent of XLY, the PowerShares S&P SmallCap Consumer Discretionary Portfolio has garnered almost $42 million in AUM in 18 months of trading. The expense ratio is decent at 0.29% and the ETF is home to 109 stocks. PSCD is one to take a look at if you're looking for exposure to some growth names in the apparel and casual dining sub-sectors. PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage Portfolio PBJ: Looking at its name, investors may think PBJ is a defensive staples ETF. It is to a certain extent, but there are several stocks in here that ensue this ETF has more exposure than you might realize to economic growth. McDonald's MCD, Whole Foods WFM and Green Mountain Coffee GMCR are integral parts of PBJ's fray. iShares S&P Global Consumer Discretionary Index Fund RXI: As we've noted before with RXI, beware the term “global” because more than 54% of the ETF's weight is allocated to U.S. companies. RXI is home to 166 stocks, nearly $123 million in AUM and an expense ratio of 0.48%. Beyond those vitals, like FXD, RXI is heavily exposed to the auto industry. In fact, RXI has more than 23% exposure to that sector. That explains the 15% drop in the past 90 days, but it also means this ETF is intimately correlated to any good global economic news.