Consumer discretionary stocks outperform other sectors after retail trade report

The S&P 500-indexed consumer discretionary sector was higher than other sectors on Tuesday.

Although the three major U.S. indexes started Tuesday’s session on a positive note, the outperformance in the consumer discretionary sector was likely due to a better-than-expected retail sales report.

Sales rose modestly by 0.1% in August, which was better than the 0.2% decline forecast by Wall Street analysts.

“Retail sales growth has been slightly below its long-term average in recent months, but is still rising at a moderate pace. That should translate into a modest improvement in consumption and help drive reasonable GDP growth this quarter. It’s another sign that the economy remains in a mid-cycle expansion rather than a recession,” Scott Helfstein, head of investment strategy at Global X, wrote in a note.