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Featured Story from MarketBeat.com 3 ETFs That Could Benefit as Consumers Tighten Their BudgetsWritten by Jennifer Ryan Woods. Article Published: 3/11/2026. 
Key Points - A growing divide in consumer spending is emerging as higher-income households continue to spend freely while lower-income consumers scale back due to elevated prices, slower income growth, and rising debt.
- As consumers look for ways to stretch their budgets, discount retailers and warehouse clubs such as TJX, Ross Stores, Dollar General, and Burlington Stores have benefited from increased demand, with many of their stocks posting strong gains over the past year.
- Investors looking to capitalize on the shift toward value-oriented shopping may consider ETFs such as XLY, XRT, and RTH, which offer varying levels of exposure to discount retailers, warehouse clubs, and other major consumer companies.
- Special Report: Elon's "Hidden" Company
U.S. consumer spending has remained resilient, but a growing divide is emerging in who is spending and what they're buying. In what many economists describe as a K-shaped economy, higher-income households have continued to prosper and spend freely, while lower-income consumers have scaled back as elevated prices, stagnant incomes, and rising debt take a toll. As households look to trim expenses, shoppers are increasingly turning to discount chains and warehouse clubs to get more value for their money. Over the past year, retailers such as TJX Companies (NYSE: TJX), Ross Stores (NASDAQ: ROST), Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG), and Burlington Stores, Inc. (NYSE: BURL) have benefited from this shift, and there may be further upside. Many analysts remain bullish on these retailers, and if gas prices rise sharply because of the escalating conflict with Iran, consumers' need to seek bargains could increase further. San Francisco is the strangest city in America right now—you can hop into a self-driving car and be chauffeured by a robot, but out the window you see addicts slumped in doorways, open-air drug markets, the mentally ill screaming at the sky, and entire city blocks consumed by homeless encampments. It's ground-zero for the most disruptive technological forces of our age, and Erez lives in the Bay Area plugged into the capital, the connections, and the companies reshaping the world—the advancements in AI, blockchain, computing, and biosciences are unlike anything the world has seen before, and a tsunami of disruption is coming for everything all at once. During our most recent broadcast, we exposed what we're calling the most asymmetric opportunity of our careers: an overlooked financial company hiding a multi-billion-dollar blockchain asset Wall Street hasn't priced in—it's one of those rare situations Warren Buffett would describe as raining gold when all you have to do is step outside if you want to get rich. Watch the broadcast before the window closes now For investors looking to benefit from a more price-conscious economy, three ETFs that provide exposure to value-oriented retailers and related consumer stocks can be an effective way to participate in the trend. XLY Offers Broad Consumer Exposure Plus Key Value Retailers The Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSEARCA: XLY) provides exposure to retailers benefiting from shifting consumer spending while also capturing the broader consumer discretionary sector. The fund's fifth-largest holding is TJX, the company behind TJ Maxx, Marshalls, and HomeGoods. A roughly 4% position in TJX gives XLY investors meaningful exposure to the discount retail trend. TJX has risen more than 30% over the last year, and analysts remain overwhelmingly positive. XLY also holds about 1.5% in Ross Stores, which has surged more than 50% over the past year and is up roughly 15% year-to-date, with analysts keeping a bullish outlook. That said, XLY is not a pure discount-retailer play. The fund is concentrated in a handful of consumer discretionary stocks across several industries. The two largest holdings, Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Tesla Inc. (NASDAQ: TSLA), together account for roughly 40% of the portfolio. XLY has a net expense ratio of just 0.03%, well below the 0.58% average for consumer discretionary ETFs. This highly liquid ETF trades around $115 per share and is up more than 15% over the last year, though it is down nearly 4% year-to-date. XRT Provides Diversified Exposure Across the Retail Sector Investors seeking more targeted, less top-heavy retail exposure may prefer the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (NYSEARCA: XRT). XRT offers broad coverage of the retail sector and uses an equal-weight approach, allowing mid-sized companies to have a greater impact on performance. The top 25 holdings each account for roughly 1.5% to 1.8% of the portfolio. XRT includes a number of warehouse clubs, such as PriceSmart Inc. (NASDAQ: PSMT), BJ's Wholesale Club (NYSE: BJ), and Costco Wholesale Corp. (NASDAQ: COST). It also holds several discount retailers, including Dollar General Corp. (NYSE: DG), Burlington Stores Inc. (NYSE: BURL), and Five Below Inc. (NASDAQ: FIVE). XRT is highly liquid and carries a net expense ratio of 0.35%—higher than XLY but still below the sector average. Over the last year, XRT has risen more than 15%. It has slipped roughly 2% year-to-date and is currently trading around $83. RTH Targets Retail Industry Leaders For investors who want an ETF focused exclusively on retail, the VanEck Retail ETF (NASDAQ: RTH) may be attractive. RTH holds 25 large U.S. retail companies, many of which tend to perform well when consumers become more price sensitive. Value-oriented names in the fund include Costco, TJX, Ross Stores, and Dollar General. The fund's two largest holdings—Amazon and Walmart (NASDAQ: WMT)—account for nearly 30% of the portfolio, giving investors significant exposure to dominant retailers that often gain market share in a budget-conscious environment. RTH's focus on large, influential retailers has paid off recently; it has outperformed the other ETFs discussed here. The ETF is up nearly 17% over the last year and about 3% year-to-date, trading around $260 per share. Its net expense ratio of 0.35% is on par with XRT and below the sector average. However, RTH is much less liquid than either XLY or XRT, averaging roughly 5,500 shares traded per day. | 
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