Retail ETF On Track For Biggest Daily Drop In 4 Weeks As Priceline's Stock Slumps

A popular vehicle to wager on the retail sector on Wednesday was on pace for its steepest daily decline in about a month, weighed by drops in shares of Office Depot Inc. , and Priceline Group Inc. . The SPDR S&P Retail ETF was down by about 1.5%, putting its worst one-day fall since July 10 in sight, when the retail-focused ETF fell by 2.4%, according to FactSet data. Prominent names in the ETF, Priceline shares tumbled 8.4% after the travel-booking company posted bookings that missed Wall Street expectations late Tuesday. Another travel-related entity, TripAdvisor Inc. saw its shares down nearly 8% after weaker-than-expected quarterly results, while Office Depot's stock, plunged 25%, on pace for its worst daily drop since May 11, 2016. Those drops combined to yank the XRT sharply lower in early Wednesday trade. The S&P 500 index's consumer-staples sector, which the retail ETF is designed to mimic, was down the most among the broad-market benchmark's 11 sectors. Wall Street equities were trading modestly lower as investors sold assets perceived as risky, notably stocks, in favor of havens like government bonds and gold. The S&P 500 was down 0.2%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 0.2%, while the tech-laden Nasdaq Composite Index was trading 0.5% lower.