Yesterday’s column was on certain sub-sectors of the retail sector. The conclusion was that there were a few looking strong but in need of pullbacks and a few with potential breakouts pending. I couldn’t really piece together a theme – such as big boxes or department stores and had to settle for big chains.br /br /That sort of got these two sub-sectors plus some drugstores but again, so what? Most listed retails companies are chains. I mean I like food retailer Stew Leonard but with only four stores in the northern NYC suburbs it just does not merit a listing on the NYSE. (Awesome stores that they are!). br /br /So how did I even come to find any retail stocks that looked decent? A screen of technicals and even some fundamentals turned them up and they are really just one-off picks. There is no compelling sub-sector theme and that is worrisome. Sectors returns are a huge chunk of individual stock returns and I am not so sure that even the picks in the column are going to be performers for the long-haul. br /br /Make no mistake, I would buy them if I were a full time trader. There is no take-back on the positive write-up. It’s just that staying power is questionable. Big gasoline prices are not going away and consumers are still getting pinched.