This year, as the market is preoccupied with how the Iran war is propping up the energy sector and how the memory chip shortage has been driving the AI rally, there has been little focus on consumer discretionary stocks' underperformance.
In 2026, consumer discretionary remains among the weakest S&P 500 sectors. The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund, a commonly used proxy for the sector, is down nearly 4% year-to-date.
