What Are Sector ETFs? The 11 S&P 500 Sectors in One Table

Information Technology makes up 36.98% of the S&P 500 on 3 November 2026. Materials makes up 1.74%. State Street's 11 Select Sector SPDR ETFs each hold one of those slices, from XLK (technology) to XLU (utilities).

In 2022, the energy fund, XLE, returned 64.2% with dividends counted. SPY (the S&P 500 ETF) lost 18.2% that year. This article puts the 11 funds in one table, with each sector's weight, its three largest holdings, and its return in 2008, 2020, and 2022. We wrote it on 4 November 2026, using the close of 3 November.

An ETF is a fund that trades on an exchange like a share. Our explainer on what an ETF is covers the basics.

A sector ETF holds only the companies in one sector. State Street Global Advisors runs 11 of them, one for each sector of the S&P 500. Each fund seeks to track a Select Sector Index. State Street says each index seeks to give an effective representation of that sector of the S&P 500.

All 11 funds list an expense ratio of 0.08% on State Street's fund pages on 3 November 2026. The expense ratio is the yearly fee, as a share of the money invested. Nine of the funds began trading on 22 December 1998. XLRE (real estate) began on 8 October 2015 and XLC (communication services) on 19 June 2018.

GICS is the Global Industry Classification Standard. MSCI and S&P Dow Jones Indices developed GICS in 1999, according to MSCI's GICS overview. MSCI and S&P Dow Jones Indices maintain it and review it every year.

GICS has four tiers: sectors, industry groups, industries, and sub-industries. As of 17 March 2023, it had 11 sectors, 25 industry groups, 74 industries, and 163 sub-industries. Each company gets one classification in each tier, set by its principal business activity. MSCI names revenue as a key factor.

MSCI and S&P Dow Jones Indices revise GICS from time to time. In a revision that took effect after the close on 17 March 2023, S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI moved payment processors into Financials. Visa and Mastercard now sit in XLF, at 8.89% and 6.49% of the fund. Together they are 15.38% of it.

Our guide to the 11 stock market sectors lists what each sector contains. This article covers the funds.

The table lists each fund, its sector, the sector's weight in the S&P 500, and the fund's three largest holdings. The last three columns give the calendar-year return in 2008, 2020, and 2022. We count dividends in every return here, with dividends reinvested.

The bottom row is SPY, which stands in for the index. The XLC row lists Alphabet twice, as Class A and Class C shares.

Weights and holdings as of 3 November 2026. Returns run from the last close of the year before to the last close of the year, with dividends counted. Not available means the fund did not yet exist. Source: State Street Global Advisors; YX Insights price data

Chart 1 ranks the sectors by weight. The weight is a sector's share of the index's market value, which is the combined value of its shares. State Street reports it for the S&P 500.

Three sectors carry 10% or more: Information Technology at 36.98%, Financials at 12.34%, and Health Care at 10.22%. Four sit below 5%: Energy, Utilities, Real Estate, and Materials. Consumer Staples is 5.00%.

Information Technology and Financials together are 49.32% of the index. Utilities, Real Estate, and Materials together are 5.65%.

The 11 funds hold between 21 holdings (XLE) and 83 (XLI). Some funds put much of their money in a few names.

Chart 2 adds up each fund's three largest holdings. Energy is highest, at 49.79%. ExxonMobil and Chevron alone are 42.62% of XLE. Consumer Discretionary follows at 45.75%, then Information Technology at 42.42%, and Communication Services at 41.64%, where Alphabet counts twice as two share classes.

Industrials is lowest at 16.42%. Its three largest holdings are GE Aerospace, Caterpillar, and RTX. The XLK fund holds 76 securities, but Nvidia, Apple, and Microsoft are 42.42% of it.

We picked three years that cover the 2008 financial crisis, the 2020 pandemic, and 2022. Each return runs from the last close of the year before to the last close of the year.

XLC and XLRE did not exist in 2008. We show them as not available and do not backfill them. The 2008 results cover nine funds.

In 2008, all nine funds fell. Consumer Staples fell least, at 15.0%. Financials fell most, at 55.0%. SPY fell 36.8%. Four of the nine funds fell by less than that. The gap between the best and worst fund was 39.9 percentage points.

In 2020, XLK returned 43.6% and SPY returned 18.4%. XLE fell 32.5%. XLF fell 1.7% and XLRE fell 2.1%. Four of the 11 funds beat SPY. The gap between the best and worst was 76.1 percentage points.

In 2022, XLE returned 64.2%. XLU was the only other fund to rise, at 1.4%. Nine of the 11 funds fell.

Communication Services fell 37.6% and Consumer Discretionary fell 36.3%. SPY fell 18.2%. Seven of the 11 funds finished ahead of it. The gap between the best and worst fund was 101.8 percentage points.

The same sector can finish first in one year and last in another. XLE was last of the 11 in 2020 and first in 2022. XLK was first in 2020 and ninth in 2022.

Each return is the fund's own record. The companies inside a fund can change as the index changes and as MSCI and S&P Dow Jones Indices revise GICS. The 2023 revision above is one example, so a fund's 2008 holdings may differ from its holdings now.

Three calendar years are a small sample. They are the three we chose. They say nothing about the next year. The returns also leave out tax and any cost of trading.

The table shows the sector's weight in the S&P 500, the fund's three largest holdings, and its return in 2008, 2020, and 2022. All 11 funds charge the same 0.08% fee. The fund's name gives the sector. The holdings show which companies carry it.

Our hub post on how ETFs perform in a crisis compares ETFs across several market shocks. Our guide to the 11 stock market sectors covers the sectors themselves.

A sector ETF holds one of the 11 S&P 500 sectors. The 11 funds differ in weight, concentration, and crisis-year returns.

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This explainer is part of the YX Insights Academy. Each one takes a single idea and checks it against real data.

The same approach runs through everything else we publish:

Good places to start on the website:

The 11 Select Sector SPDR ETFs are XLK (Information Technology), XLF (Financials), XLV (Health Care), XLY (Consumer Discretionary), XLC (Communication Services), XLI (Industrials), XLP (Consumer Staples), XLE (Energy), XLU (Utilities), XLRE (Real Estate), and XLB (Materials). Each one holds a single S&P 500 sector.

The S&P 500 has 11 sectors under the Global Industry Classification Standard. Information Technology is the largest, at 36.98% of the index on 3 November 2026. Materials is the smallest, at 1.74%. The weights are State Street's figures for the S&P 500 on that date.

GICS stands for the Global Industry Classification Standard. MSCI and S&P Dow Jones Indices developed it in 1999, according to MSCI's GICS overview. It sorts companies into 11 sectors, then 25 industry groups, 74 industries, and 163 sub-industries, as of 17 March 2023. Each company gets one classification by its principal business activity.

XLE, the Energy fund, returned 64.2% in 2022 with dividends counted. XLU, the Utilities fund, was the only other one to rise, at 1.4%. Nine of the 11 funds fell. SPY (the S&P 500 ETF) fell 18.2%, while Communication Services fell most, at 37.6%.

DISCLAIMER: This article is intended for educational purposes only. Any information or analysis in this note does not constitute an offer to sell or a solicitation of an offer to buy any securities. Nothing in this note is intended to be investment advice, nor should it be relied upon to make investment decisions. Any opinions, analyses, or probabilities expressed in this note are those of the author as of the note's date of publication and are subject to change without notice.