What retailers need to do well in their back-to-school season

After a brutal calculation in its first quarter, retailers could really use a good back-to-school shopping season.

Retail stocks, which hit higher levels last year, took a bat Following the results of earnings from such sector giants in May walmart And Target showed that demand for discretionary goods was slowing. A basket of retail stocks in the S&P 500 is down 29.4% so far, 12.5 percentage points behind the broader index.