ETF Versus

SPY vs XLI

State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust vs State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF

Last updated: 2026-04-10

SPY SPDR

State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) is an exchange-traded fund issued by SPDR that provides exposure to large-cap U.S. equities across growth and value styles. It charges a low expense ratio of 0.09%. The fund offers a moderate dividend yield of 1.09%. Launched in 1993, the fund has a 33-year track record.

AUM: $678.3B ER: 0.09% Yield: 1.09% Since: Jan 22, 1993
XLI SPDR

State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI) is an exchange-traded fund issued by SPDR that provides exposure to us sector - industrials securities. It charges a low expense ratio of 0.08%. The fund offers a moderate dividend yield of 1.19%. Launched in 1998, the fund has a 28-year track record.

AUM: $29.5B ER: 0.08% Yield: 1.19% Since: Dec 16, 1998

Quick Verdict

Both funds have nearly identical expense ratios (0.08% vs 0.09%), so fees are not a differentiator here. Over the past year, XLI has significantly outperformed with a 39.4% return vs 29.6%.

Key Metrics

Metric SPY XLI
Expense Ratio 0.09% 0.08%
Dividend Yield 1.1% 1.2%
Fund Family SPDR SPDR
Category US Large Cap Blend US Sector - Industrials

Performance Chart

Indexed to 100 at start (5-year comparison)

80 99 118 137 156 175 2021-04 2022-07 2023-10 2025-01 2026-04
SPY +65.2%
XLI +70.6%

Performance Comparison

Period SPY XLI Difference
1 Month +0.54% +1.54% -1.00%
3 Months -2.19% +5.47% -7.66%
6 Months +2.55% +13.63% -11.08%
YTD -0.47% +8.94% -9.41%
1 Year +29.62% +39.36% -9.74%
3 Years +65.95% +73.40% -7.45%
5 Years +65.18% +70.60% -5.42%

Fee Impact Over Time

Estimated fee cost difference assuming 8% annual returns

Investment Period SPY Fees XLI Fees You Save
$10,000 10 years $179 $159 $20
$10,000 20 years $771 $686 $85
$10,000 30 years $2,486 $2,212 $273
$50,000 10 years $896 $797 $99
$50,000 30 years $12,428 $11,061 $1,366
$100,000 30 years $24,855 $22,123 $2,732

Risk Metrics

Based on 5 years of daily returns

Metric SPY XLI
Annualized Volatility 17.1% 17.3%
Max Drawdown -25.4% -22.7%
Sharpe Ratio 0.41 0.45

Dividend Comparison

Metric SPY XLI
Annual Dividend (per share) $7.38 $2.05
Dividend Yield 1.09% 1.19%
Distribution Frequency Quarterly Quarterly

Top Holdings

0 of top 9 holdings overlap (0% overlap in top holdings)

SPY Top Holdings

NameWeight
NVIDIA CorporationNVDA7.61%
Apple Inc.AAPL6.54%
Microsoft CorporationMSFT4.78%
Amazon.com, Inc.AMZN3.72%
Broadcom Inc.AVGO2.86%
Alphabet Inc.GOOG2.53%
Meta Platforms, Inc.META2.31%
Tesla, Inc.TSLA1.66%
Berkshire Hathaway Inc.BRK.B1.51%

XLI Top Holdings

NameWeight
Caterpillar Inc.CAT6.82%
GE AerospaceGE6.11%
RTX CorporationRTX5.08%
GE Vernova Inc.GEV4.86%
The Boeing CompanyBA3.22%
Deere & CompanyDE2.90%
Eaton Corporation plcETN2.90%
Honeywell International Inc.HON2.79%
Union Pacific CorporationUNP2.78%
Uber Technologies, Inc.UBER2.75%

Which One Should You Choose?

Choose XLI if...

recent performance momentum matters to your strategy. Note that past performance doesn't guarantee future results.

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