The consumer sector was on the radar last week for host of reasons. While U.S. growth in the second quarter hit a 33-year low and July’s consumer confidence as measured by the University of Michigan was weaker than expected at 93.1, as well as down from 96.1 in June, stocks and related ETFs got a boost with several consumer ETFs hitting a fresh 52-week high.

While the consumer sector as a whole – cyclical or non-cyclical – was in a decent shape last week, the staples stocks deserve a special mention. Most probably, investors are pinning hopes on lower oil prices which should continue to add up to consumers’ fuel price savings and encourage consumers to loosen their purse strings (read: Consumer Staples ETF Investing 101)..

Moreover, Reuters noted that unemployment rate at 5.3% is perceived as almost full employment in the economy thanks to the fact that the rate is very near the Fed’s goal of 5–5.2%. Investors should also note that though the consumer confidence slackened in July, it is still 13.8% higher than the year-ago level, per Reuters.

To add to this, the Fed still remains accommodative and backs the space by promising a slower rate hike trajectory once the step is actually taken, most probably sometime later on in 2015. A still low interest rate has been helping consumer staples stocks as these are known for high payouts.

If this was not enough, the global economy remains choppy thanks to dollar strength, commodity market crash, and the persistent upheaval in the Chinese economy and equity market. This bout of volatility has played its role in brightening the appeal for low-risk consumer staples stocks. Below we highlight three consumer ETFs which hit a new high on July 31 (read: 2 Recession Proof Sector ETFs for This Stormy Market).

iShares Dow Jones US Consumer Services Sector Index Fund (IYC)

The fund targets the Dow Jones US Consumer Services Index. The 180-stock fund has accumulated about $1.09 billion in assets. The fund has moderate company-specific concentration risk with the top holding Amazon accounting for 6.61% share of the basket (read: IYC: A Better Consumer ETF?).

The fund charges 45 bps in fees. It has a tilt toward retailing (34.04%) and media (25.37%) stocks. This fund surged to a new one-year high of $150.84 on July 31. So far this year, the fund is up 9.2% and has a Zacks ETF Rank #1 with a Medium risk outlook. Thanks to its bullish rank, the fund is expected to outperform the broader market in the coming days.

PowerShares DWA Consumer Staples Momentum Portfolio (PSL)

This ETF provides exposure to 32 stocks having positive relative strength (momentum) characteristics by tracking the DWA Consumer Staples Technical Leaders Index. It is often overlooked by investors as depicted by its AUM of $152.7 million. Expense ratio comes in at 0.60%.   

The product is pretty spread out across securities as each holds less than 4.78% of assets. In terms of industry exposure, food products dominate about one-fifth of the portfolio while beverages and household durables round off the top three with double-digit exposure.

On July 31, the fund hit a 52-week high of $57.09. The ETF is up 11.6% so far in the year and has a Zacks ETF Rank #3 (Hold). Though it is a little tough to take a stand on this product’s future movement, many of the fund’s underlying segments have strong Zacks Industry Ranks suggesting more room for upside in the coming weeks.

Consumer Staples AlphaDEX Fund (FXG)

This fund provides exposure to the consumer staples segment of the broad U.S. market by tracking the StrataQuant Consumer Staples Index. It follows an AlphaDEX methodology and ranks stocks in the space by various growth and value factors, eliminating the bottom ranked 25% of the stocks.

This approach results in a basket of 39 stocks that are well spread out across various components. No security holds more than 4.93% of assets. About 50% of the portfolio is allocated to food products in terms of sectors, followed by food & staples retailing (21.35%) and beverages (11.65%).

FXG is one of the popular and liquid ETFs in the consumer staples space with $2.89 billion in AUM. It hit a 52-week high of $45.82 per share on July 31, 2015 and is up about 7.4% so far this year. It charges a slightly higher fee of 67 bps per year. The fund has a Zacks ETF Rank #3 (Hold) with a Medium risk outlook.

 Despite having a Hold rating, this fund is also likely to add further gains ahead as Zacks Industry Ranks for segments like food products and beverage that make up this ETF fall within top 20% category, so there is definitely still some promise for those who want to ride out this surging ETF a little further.

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