The retail sector should be getting clobbered... After all, interest rates are surging. And people are having trouble keeping up.

The Power Gauge's Take After a Record-Setting Black Friday By Pete Carmasino, chief market strategist, Chaikin Analytics The retail sector should be getting clobbered... After all, interest rates are surging. And people are having trouble keeping up. That's a recipe for tighter budgets and less spending, right? Well... no. The early data from Black Friday is out. And if the trend holds over the next four-plus weeks, another big holiday season could be in the works... You see, Black Friday online spending came in at roughly $9.1 billion. That's a record high. And most of the spending during this holiday season is still expected to take place in stores. The fact is simple... Costs are rising all over the place. But despite that, U.S. consumers are still spending a lot. That's playing out in many retailers' reports, too... Ross Stores (ROST) is up roughly 19% since it beat quarterly earnings estimates on November 17. And Foot Locker (FL) has surged around 20% since it did the same thing. But that brings us to a few important questions... Is now the right time to chase retailers? Was Black Friday just one good day? Or is a larger trend taking hold in the retail sector? Let's see what the Power Gauge says... Recommended Links: I've been a trader and analyst for 40 years. I'm now staking my entire reputation on THIS Dr. David "Doc" Eifrig has successfully navigated every crisis you can imagine in 40 years as a financial pro, including the 1987 "Black Monday" crash... the dot-com bust... the financial crisis... and the COVID 19 panic. But he says THIS coming "retirement shock" will top them all. And he's sharing the most important new work of his life. Until midnight tonight, get the full story here plus a FREE bonus from Doc. 'A Gold Wave Is Coming' Some of the richest men in the world are jumping in right now... because evidence suggests we could see MUCH HIGHER gold prices before the end of this year. But if you're not taking advantage of a little-known way to invest for less than $10, you're missing out. Click here for full details. We'll start with the chart of the sector-tracking SPDR S&P Retail Fund (XRT)... Today, XRT earns a "neutral" rating from the Power Gauge. And as you can see, the system has rated this exchange-traded fund as either "neutral" or "bearish" for the past year. We can get a further look into XRT using the Power Bar ratio... Remember, the Power Bar ratio is a valuable weapon to help us figure out when to act. It compares the number of "bullish" or better stocks with those ranked "bearish" or worse within a specific industry or a broader index. Today, XRT's Power Bar shows 40 "bullish" or better and 18 "bearish" or worse stocks. As recently as last week, the setup was much more "neutral." So if nothing else, we want to keep XRT on our watch list. Now, you'll also notice in the above chart that XRT recently broke above its long-term trend line. That's another good sign. It tells us that the fund is starting to look good for investors. But the key word is "starting"... The retail sector features some standouts today. And it appears to be trending in the right direction. But there simply isn't enough overall strength to act – not yet anyway. Yes, the sector got a boost from a record-setting Black Friday. And as the rest of the numbers come out this week, we'll likely see more positivity in the retail sector. But remember, the Power Gauge has rated this sector as "bearish" or "neutral" for an entire year. And for good reason... The costs of goods are still soaring. And the Federal Reserve is actively trying to put a damper on market activity. In other words, a lot of pressure remains on the retail sector. So for now, let's just keep watching closely... We'll want to see more "bullish" or better ratings for stocks within the sector. We'll also want to see the sector maintain its recent breakout above its long-term trend line. Then, the Power Gauge will likely see a "bullish" opportunity in retail. That's when we'll know that Black Friday was more than just one good day of shopping. Good investing, Pete Carmasino Market View Major Indexes and Notable Sectors     # Hld:     Bullish     Neutral     Bearish Dow 30 UNCH 10 18 2 S&P 500 -0.17% 164 250 85 Nasdaq -0.76% 33 42 25 Small Caps +0.29% 601 854 431 Bonds -1.17% Real Estate +1.70% 0 11 20 — According to the Chaikin Power Bar, Large Cap stocks and Small Cap stocks are Bullish.. Major indexes are mixed. *  *  *  * Top Movers Gainers CE +4.74% CCL +4.61% RL +4.36% NCLH +4.15% WELL +3.84% Losers ILMN -3.84% PYPL -2.86% ENPH -2.82% BR -2.51% AAPL -2.12% *  *  *  * Earnings Report Reporting Today Rating Before Open After Close COST HRL CRM, SNPS No earnings reporting today. Earnings Surprises INTU Intuit Inc. Q1 $1.66 Beat by $0.46 CRWD CrowdStrike Holdings, Inc. Q3 $0.36 Beat by $0.09 WDAY Workday, Inc. Q3 $0.99 Beat by $0.15 NTAP NetApp, Inc. Q2 $1.20 Beat by $0.10 HPE Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company Q4 $0.48 Met estimate *  *  *  * Sector Tracker Sector movement over the last 5 days Discretionary +0.56% Utilities -0.09% Health Care -0.11% Staples -0.36% Financial -0.39% Real Estate -0.42% Industrials -0.46% Communication -0.86% Materials -1.56% Energy -2.76% Information Technology -2.81% *  *  *  * Industry Focus Mining Services 10 13 10 Over the past 6 months, the Mining subsector (XME) has underperformed the S&P 500 by -1.16%. Its Power Bar ratio which measures future potential is Neutral, with an equal number of Bullish and Bearish stocks. It is currently ranked #16 of 21 subsectors and has moved down 1 slot over the past week. Indicative Stocks NEM Newmont Corporation EVA Enviva Inc. CDE Coeur Mining, Inc. *  *  *  * You have received this e-mail as part of your subscription to PowerFeed. If you no longer want to receive e-mails from PowerFeed, click here. You're receiving this e-mail at indra21poetra@gmail.com. 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