After a brutal calculation in their first quarter, retailers could really use a back-to-school shopping season.
Retail stocks, which surged last year, fought a battle in May after earnings results from industry giants like Walmart and Target show that demand for discretionary goods is slowing. A basket of retail stocks in the S&P 500 so far is down 29.4 percent year-over-year, 12.5 percentage points below the broader index.
