Sectors In Review: October 2019
August was unforgiving for sector ETFs, with far more funds in negative territory.
Sector ETFs saw some steep declines during the month of August, with the iShares U.S. Oil Equipment & Services ETF (IEZ) claiming the spot of the biggest loser, with a decline of 19.36%; followed by the SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF (XOP), down 13.94%; and the SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF (XME), down 8.82%. The top performer for the month, by contrast, was the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU), up just 5.12%; followed by the Vanguard Utilities ETF (VPU), up 4.84%; and the Vanguard Real Estate ETF (VNQ), up 3.77%. Similar to the returns, the negative flows were more notable than the positive flows, with the Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) losing $2.9 billion, while the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) and the Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLI) lost $860.5 million and $351.2 million, respectively. The Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLP) had the most inflows, pulling in $1.3 billion. It was followed by the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLK), with inflows of $362.7 million; and the Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLY), with inflows of $310.6 million.
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Sources: Bloomberg and FactSet. Data from 07/31/2019 to 08/31/2019. ETFs chosen to represent each sector based on the most liquid ETF in each segment of the ETF.com ETF Classification System.