XLF contains diversified financial services; insurance; commercial banks; capital markets; real estate investment trusts; thrift & mortgage finance; consumer finance; and real estate management & development. XLF contains the who’s-who of the financial players in the domestic economy, including JP Morgan, Wells Fargo, and others. This makes it an ideal play on the U.S. financials world, which has not always been stable.
Sector ETFs
SMH tracks the overall performance of the 25 largest, U.S. listed companies that produce semiconductors, a crucial component of modern computing. Semiconductor chips act as the brains to numerous devices that we rely on today, including smartphones, calculators, computers, and much more. As technology continues to improve and expand, these chips will invariably be in demand to help power new devices. The fund focuses on U.S. stocks entirely, offering investors concentrated exposure to America’s semiconductor industry. Investors should note that this fund is equally split between giant, large, and mid cap size companies,
XLK includes market segments like IT services, wireless telecommunication services, and semiconductors to name just a few. The fund invests in the who’s-who of the U.S. tech sector, with major holdings in companies like Apple and IBM. The fund splits its assets mainly between the technology and communication services sectors, while allocating mainly to giant and large cap firms. One of the major strengths of this ETF is the fact that it does not single out a particular sector; rather it invests in companies from all across the technology sector.
XLI: U.S. industrials sector offers access to transportation firms, commercial and professional services, and manufacturers of capital goods. Given the sector-specific focus, XLI likely doesn’t deserve a core allocation, but may be useful as a means of implementing a tactical tilt towards the industrials sector for a sector rotation strategy. The primary appeal of XLI lies in the impressive liquidity; used widely as a trading vehicle by active investors, XLI will generally feature very narrow bid-ask spreads. The depth of the XLI portfolio, however, leaves something to be desired. This ETF has far fewer holdings than options such as VIS, FIL, and IYJ, and also maintains a big weighting in GE.
offshore oil rig at sunset
XLE is U.S. energy industry, including many of the world’s largest oil producers. Compared to other energy options, XLE is impressive in terms of both cost efficiency and liquidity; investors can generally expect to execute at penny wide spreads. But like many funds offering exposure to the energy sector, XLE maintains some concentration issues, as a few stocks account for big chunks of the total portfolio.
IBB biotech sub-sector of the health care industry, serving up access to a group IBB is primarily focused on U.S. stocks, though a smattering of international firms adds some degree of international diversification. This biotech ETF casts a considerably wider net that the other ETF options for exposure to the space, investing in more than 100 stocks. That feature can be particularly important in the biotech space, where company-specific developments can send a single stock soaring. IBB is somewhat top-heavy, but generally
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The XLY offers exposure to the consumer discretionary sector, making it an appealing option for investors looking to implement a sector rotation strategy or tilt exposure towards corners of the U.S. market that may perform well during a recovery. XLY offers impressive liquidity, cost efficiency, and depth of exposure, making it one of the best ETF options for playing the consumer discretionary sector.
XLU utilities sector is a low volatility and relatively high distribution yields, is useful for establishing low risk equity exposure or for enhancing the current returns generated by the equity side of a portfolio. XLU is probably most appealing to those implementing a sector rotation strategy or looking to establish a tactical tilt towards this low beta sector of the U.S. market. Those building a long-term, buy-and-hold portfolio will likely achieve utilities exposure through broad-based equity funds
XLRE tracks a market cap-weighted index of REITs and real estate stocks, excluding mortgage REITs, from the S&P 500. XLRE represents the new real estate sector concentrated portfolio of mostly large-caps . XLF provided roughly $3B in AUM in the form of REITs to XLRE in return for its shares, which were then distributed to XLF shareholders, thus providing a massive boost to XLRE’s AUM.