Designed to provide broad exposure to the Consumer Staples - Broad segment of the equity market, the State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLP Quick QuoteXLP - Free Report) is a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on December 16, 1998.

Retail and institutional investors increasingly turn to passively managed ETFs because they offer low costs, transparency, flexibility, and tax efficiency; these kind of funds are also excellent vehicles for long term investors.

Investor-friendly, sector ETFs provide many options to gain low risk and diversified exposure to a broad group of companies in particular sectors. Consumer Staples - Broad is one of the 16 broad Zacks sectors within the Zacks Industry classification. It is currently ranked 16, placing it in bottom 0%.

Index Details

The fund is sponsored by State Street Investment Management. It has amassed assets over $13.94 billion, making it the largest ETF attempting to match the performance of the Consumer Staples - Broad segment of the equity market. XLP seeks to match the performance of the Consumer Staples Select Sector Index before fees and expenses.

The Consumer Staples Select Sector Index seeks to provide an effective representation of the consumer staples sector of the S&P 500 Index.

Costs

Since cheaper funds tend to produce better results than more expensive funds, assuming all other factors remain equal, it is important for investors to pay attention to an ETF's expense ratio.

Annual operating expenses for this ETF are 0.08%, making it the least expensive product in the space.

It has a 12-month trailing dividend yield of 2.66%.

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 Staples sector -- about 100% of the portfolio.

Looking at individual holdings, Walmart Inc (WMT) accounts for about 10.09% of total assets, followed by Costco Wholesale Corp (COST) and Coca Cola Co/the (KO).

The top 10 holdings account for about 61.81% of total assets under management.

Performance and Risk

The ETF return is roughly 8.52% and is up roughly 9.63% so far this year and in the past one year (as of 09/23/2026), respectively. XLP has traded between $75.6 and $90.01 during this last 52-week period.

The ETF has a beta of 0.47 and standard deviation of 12.7% for the trailing three-year period, making it a medium risk choice in the space. With about 38 holdings, it has more concentrated exposure than peers.

Alternatives

State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF carries a Zacks ETF Rank of 3 (Hold), which is based on expected asset class return, expense ratio, and momentum, among other factors. Thus, XLP is a reasonable option for those seeking exposure to the Consumer Staples ETFs area of the market. Investors might also want to consider some other ETF options in the space.

iShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF (IYK) tracks Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Goods Index and the Vanguard Consumer Staples Index Fund ETF Shares (VDC) tracks MSCI US Investable Market Consumer Staples 25/50 Index. iShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF has $1.41 billion in assets, Vanguard Consumer Staples Index Fund ETF Shares has $7.72 billion. IYK has an expense ratio of 0.38%, and VDC charges 0.09%.

Bottom Line

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