By Barrie Einarson

When you trade long enough, you get used to powerful moves — but every so often, the market hands you a sector-wide surge that genuinely stands out. Today’s strength in retail was one of those moments. To Subscribe to Trade Ideas: https://go.trade-ideas.com/SHQ
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Our Trade Ideas AI gave us a clean alert on KSS at 20.56, and the follow-through was impressive. Kohl’s pushed up to 21.39, giving traders a quick, structured opportunity to capture momentum. But the real story wasn’t just KSS — it was retail as a whole waking up in a big way.

While ANF wasn’t an AI alert, its 32% move was impossible to ignore. When you start seeing individual retail names ripping like that, you have to zoom out and look at the broader picture.

That brings us to the XRT retail sector ETF — and I honestly can’t remember the last time I saw a move like this.

XRT ripped higher, dragged upward by the combined strength of names like ANF and KSS, and it raises a very interesting question for traders:
Are we getting an early signal of strong holiday spending?

Retail is heavily seasonal, and when you see this kind of pre-holiday surge, it often reflects expectations for elevated consumer activity heading into November and December. We’ll still need confirmation — and with several key retail earnings reports on deck this week, those catalysts could either solidify or completely reshape the narrative.

But for now, the takeaway is simple:

Momentum is alive in the retail sector.
XRT just made a move we haven’t seen in a very long time.

As always, stay nimble, respect your risk, and keep an eye on sectors showing unusual relative strength.
Retail may have just stepped back into the spotlight.