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Should You Invest in the State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT)?
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If you're interested in broad exposure to the Consumer Discretionary - Retail segment of the equity market, look no further than the State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on June 19, 2006.
An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.
Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Consumer Discretionary - Retail is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 8, placing it in top 50%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by State Street Investment Management. It has amassed assets over $322.79 million, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Consumer Discretionary - Retail segment of the equity market. XRT seeks to match the performance of the S&P Retail Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.
The S&P Retail Select Industry Index represents the retail sub-industry portion of the S&P TMI. The S&P TMI tracks all the U.S. common stocks listed on the NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ National Market and NASDAQ Small Cap exchanges. The Retail Index is a modified equal weight index.
Costs
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.85%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Discretionary sector -- about 78.6% of the portfolio, followed by Consumer Staples.
Looking at individual holdings, Abercrombie + Fitch Co Cl A (ANF) accounts for about 1.63% of total assets, followed by Grocery Outlet Holding Corp (GO) and Victoria S Secret + Co (VSCO).
The top 10 holdings account for about 15.54% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF has lost about 4.01% so far, and it's up approximately 17.01% over the last 12 months (as of 05/12/2026). XRT has traded between $74.2 and $90.88 in this past 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 1.20 and standard deviation of 22.4% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 76 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF sports a Zacks ETF Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. XRT, then, is not a suitable option for investors seeking exposure to the Consumer Discretionary ETFs segment of the market. However, there are better ETFs in the space to consider.
Amplify Online Retail ETF (IBUY) tracks EQM Online Retail Index and the VanEck Retail ETF (RTH) tracks MVIS US Listed Retail 25 Index. Amplify Online Retail ETF has $113.26 million in assets, VanEck Retail ETF has $254.32 million. IBUY has an expense ratio of 0.65%, and RTH charges 0.35%.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.
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Should You Invest in the State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT)?
If you're interested in broad exposure to the Consumer Discretionary - Retail segment of the equity market, look no further than the State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT - Free Report) , a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on June 19, 2006.
An increasingly popular option among retail and institutional investors, passively managed ETFs offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; they are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.
Sector ETFs also provide investors access to a broad group of companies in particular sectors that offer low risk and diversified exposure. Consumer Discretionary - Retail is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 8, placing it in top 50%.
Index Details
The fund is sponsored by State Street Investment Management. It has amassed assets over $322.79 million, making it one of the larger ETFs attempting to match the performance of the Consumer Discretionary - Retail segment of the equity market. XRT seeks to match the performance of the S&P Retail Select Industry Index before fees and expenses.
The S&P Retail Select Industry Index represents the retail sub-industry portion of the S&P TMI. The S&P TMI tracks all the U.S. common stocks listed on the NYSE, AMEX, NASDAQ National Market and NASDAQ Small Cap exchanges. The Retail Index is a modified equal weight index.
Costs
Expense ratios are an important factor in the return of an ETF and in the long term, cheaper funds can significantly outperform their more expensive counterparts, other things remaining the same.
Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.35%, making it one of the cheaper products in the space.
It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 0.85%.
Sector Exposure and Top Holdings
While ETFs offer diversified exposure, which minimizes single stock risk, a deep look into a fund's holdings is a valuable exercise. And, most ETFs are very transparent products that disclose their holdings on a daily basis.
This ETF has heaviest allocation in the Consumer Discretionary sector -- about 78.6% of the portfolio, followed by Consumer Staples.
Looking at individual holdings, Abercrombie + Fitch Co Cl A (ANF) accounts for about 1.63% of total assets, followed by Grocery Outlet Holding Corp (GO) and Victoria S Secret + Co (VSCO).The top 10 holdings account for about 15.54% of total assets under management.
Performance and Risk
Year-to-date, the State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF has lost about 4.01% so far, and it's up approximately 17.01% over the last 12 months (as of 05/12/2026). XRT has traded between $74.2 and $90.88 in this past 52-week period.
The ETF has a beta of 1.20 and standard deviation of 22.4% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 76 holdings, it effectively diversifies company-specific risk.
Alternatives
State Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF sports a Zacks ETF Rank of 4 (Sell), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. XRT, then, is not a suitable option for investors seeking exposure to the Consumer Discretionary ETFs segment of the market. However, there are better ETFs in the space to consider.
Amplify Online Retail ETF (IBUY) tracks EQM Online Retail Index and the VanEck Retail ETF (RTH) tracks MVIS US Listed Retail 25 Index. Amplify Online Retail ETF has $113.26 million in assets, VanEck Retail ETF has $254.32 million. IBUY has an expense ratio of 0.65%, and RTH charges 0.35%.
Bottom Line
To learn more about this product and other ETFs, screen for products that match your investment objectives and read articles on latest developments in the ETF investing universe, please visit Zacks ETF Center.