The U.S. retail market will rise 3.8% to $3.56 trillion in 2017, according to a forecast from Forrester. U.S. online sales will reach more than $459 billion, accounting for 12.9% of total sales. Clothing, consumer electronics and computers account for nearly a third of online sales. Online sales are estimated to account for 17% of total retail sales by 2022. About one-third of retail spending is made through Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, +0.10% according to Forrester. The SPDR S&P Retail ETFXRT, +0.37% is down 6.5% for the year so far while the S&P 500 index SPX, +0.15%is up 10.5% for the period.

 

By TONYA GARCIA

Source:  Marketwatch, August 2017