The Rebound Of The Consumer: An Idea To Profit From Them (IYC)

Apparently the consumer is back, at least if you believe the September same-store-sales. Instead of putting your money into a couple of retailers, like Target TGT or Wal-Mart WMT, spread your risk, and buy some shares of iShares Dow Jones US Consumer Services IYC. Not only are you getting traditional retail exposure with this ETF, but you're also getting restaurants, tech, and a back door way on the rebirth of the housing industry. McDonald's MCD is one of the ETF's top 10 holdings, and McDonald's has been firing on all cylinders lately, reporting record quarters, as it introduces new products, like coffee, and most recently, smoothies. Amazon.com AMZN is also a top 10 holding of the ETF, and AMZN should start to run up in Black Friday, and Cyber Monday, as well as the traditional December rally, otherwise known as the "Santa Claus Rally." It is also a play on cloud computing, as Amazon S3 is one of the biggest players in cloud storage infrastructure. Home Depot HD and Lowe's LOW are also two of the 10 holdings, and as the housing industry continues to rebound, more money will flow into these corporations, as home buyers renovate, and construction companies spend money on tools and services these companies provide. Four sectors into one ETF, and you get a 1% yield to boot. Not a bad way to play the consumer, if you believe they're back. In my years of paying attention to the American consumer, I've learned to never count them out. This is a cheap way to profit from them.