Retail vs the S&P 500 (XRT): is it outperforming?
Over the past month, XRT has underperformed the S&P 500 by 8.9 points. Here is where that puts it in the sector rotation — updated daily.
Where XRT sits on the rotation map
Retail highlighted against the 11 broad S&P 500 sectors. Vertical: 1-month spread vs the S&P 500. Horizontal: the longer, time-shifted window — the methodology explains the math.
XRT vs SPY: head-to-head returns
XRT (retail) and SPY (the S&P 500) side by side over every window Zensei tracks. The spread is the difference — positive means XRT won that window.
Data as of 2026-08-28 · computed from daily adjusted closes · how we measure
The read
Retail (XRT) is losing its lead. It built a 11.0-point advantage over the S&P 500 across the longer, time-shifted window, but over the past month it has slipped 8.9 points behind the market — the Cooling quadrant of the rotation map. Ranked by one-month spread, it currently stands #112 of the 115 groups Zensei tracks — among the market's weakest pockets right now.
On the shorter tape, XRT's momentum is weakening: the intraday trend that carried the move is cooling across the shorter windows. XRT's relative-strength line has broken below its long-term average — the long-term outperformance trend is no longer intact. Both signals point the same direction here: the market is not rewarding this group on either horizon.
The exposure comes via SPDR S&P Retail ETF, whose 75 tracked holdings are led by GROUPON INC, THE REALREAL INC and NATIONAL VISION HOLDINGS INC. Weighted by portfolio, the fund's holdings trade at roughly 34.1× earnings and 1.3× sales. The thing to watch from here is whether this is a pause or a handoff: cooling groups sometimes reset and reclaim leadership, but a deepening one-month deficit usually means rotation has moved on.
What's inside XRT
Top 5 of 75 tracked holdings, by portfolio weight.
Retail vs the market — common questions
Is retail outperforming the S&P 500?
Right now, no: over the past month XRT has underperformed the S&P 500 by 8.9 points. This page updates daily, so the answer reflects current market data rather than a dated article.
What is XRT?
XRT is SPDR S&P Retail ETF, the fund Zensei uses to measure the retail group against the S&P 500 benchmark (SPY).
Which stocks are in XRT?
XRT's largest tracked positions are GROUPON INC, THE REALREAL INC, NATIONAL VISION HOLDINGS INC, ABERCROMBIE & FITCH CO CLASS A, REVOLVE GROUP INC CLASS A — 75 holdings in total. The full list, with each stock measured against the group, is part of Zensei Premium.
What quadrant is retail in right now?
As of the latest daily data, retail is in the Cooling quadrant — still ahead over the longer window, but behind the market over the past month. The quadrant rules are documented on the Zensei methodology page.
Related sectors
Track retail against the whole market
Zensei Edge maps 100+ sectors and themes against the S&P 500 — with the stocks inside each one, rotation history and alerts when leadership changes hands.