Sector Wrap: Gold, Shipping, Retail
Thursday, November 19, 5:01 PM ET

The continued weakness of the US dollar has gold enthusiaists jumping for joy this week. Despite the dollar's rebound on today, spot gold prices have climbed more than two percent this week, topping out at $1150 per ounce. The US dollar has continued to fall against the Euro and Yen, leading investors to believe that inflation is right around the corner for the US consumer.

Investors have continued to rush into the SPDRs Gold ETF (AMEX:GLD), as shares have climbed by more than two percent this week, including today's modest gains.

The global economic recovery has helped shares of shipping stocks lately. Deutsche Bank upgraded shares of Genco Shipping (NYSE:GNK) and Eagle Bulk Shipping (NASDAQ:EGLE) this week as charter rates have climbed for Capesize vessels. Further encouraging news came from Star Bulk Carriers (NASDAQ:SBLK) as the shipping company locked in three new time charters with Cargill and GMI at healthy rates.

Investors have taken advantage of this trend with the Claymore Global Shipping ETF (AMEX:SEA) as shares have climbed by more than three percent this week, despite today's weakness.

And a number of major retailers reported results this week, many of which did not support the theory of consumers returning to the stores. Home Depot (NYSE:HD) saw profits fall by almost nine percent in the third quarter as revenue fell by more than eight percent. Competitor Lowe's (NYSE:LOW) didn't fare much better as the home improvement retailer saw same store sales fall by 7.5% year over year. And while Target (NYSE:TGT) beat Wall Street estimates this week with earnings of fifty eight cents per share, it offered cautious guidance for the fourth quarter, disappointing investors.

Shares of all three companies fell following the earnings reports and the Retail HOLDRs ETF (AMEX:RTH) is down almost one percent on the week including today's losses.