Consumers are feeling way better than six years ago. And when they feel better, they spend more.
People who own ETFs exposed to consumer spending are also feeling pretty good. After plummeting during the Great Recession, the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT) has spiked more than 400%.
The ETF, which mirrors the closely-watched S&P retail index, holds household names like Netflix (NFLX), Amazon.com (AMZN), J.C. Penney (JCP) and Rite Aid (RAD). It's also got exposure to the resurgent auto market through stocks like AutoNation (AN) and CarMax (KMX).
Related: Netflix is king of content...but it's still risky
Another winner in the consumer world is the Guggenheim S&P 500 Equal Weight Consumer Discretionary ETF (RCD). The fund owns 85 consumer-facing stocks like Chipotle (CMG), GameStop (GME) and Starbucks (SBUX).
These consumer ETFs could get even hotter if Americans prove willing to spend the money they're saving on gas.
