IYK vs XLP

IYKBiShares U.S. Consumer Staples ETF

XLPAState Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF

In short

IYK A 2000-vintage staples fund: one of the first US sector ETFs ever listed, now tracking a Russell 1000 index that caps its biggest names and reaches past the S&P 500 into mid-cap staples. The wider net costs 0.37%.

XLP One of the original sector funds, live since December 1998. XLP is the S&P 500's staples aisle: roughly 40 makers of soap, soda, snacks and smokes, cap-weighted, for eight basis points.

Stated mandate

IYK The fund seeks to track an index of U.S. equities in the consumer staples sector, providing diversified exposure to U.S. food, beverage, and household-goods producers.

XLP The fund seeks to track, before expenses, the price and yield performance of the Consumer Staples Select Sector Index, representing U.S. consumer staples companies.

Why people hold it

• IYK Listed June 12, 2000, one of the original iShares US sector funds: a quarter-century of staples exposure across multiple market cycles.ishares.com
• Built on a Russell 1000 staples index, so the bench runs deeper than the S&P 500 universe that feeds XLP. Mid-cap food, beverage and household-goods names get a seat.ishares.comssga.com
• The index uses RIC capping, trimming the largest positions so no single staples giant swallows the portfolio.lseg.com
• Upper half of its staples peer group, a billion-dollar-plus fund that distributes quarterly.

• XLP 0.08% a year against a peer-group median of 0.40%. In a slow-and-steady sector, that fee gap is one of the few things you actually control.
• Part of the first suite of sector ETFs launched in 1998, and still a multi-billion-dollar fund that trades very actively. Getting in and out is rarely the hard part.ssga.com
• Ties FSTA on fee and undercuts VDC, while holding strictly to S&P 500 members rather than a wider universe. Clean, literal exposure to the index's staples slice.ssga.com
• Among the strongest implementations in the staples cohort: broad mandate, quarterly distributions, no structural quirks buried in the wrapper.

Worth knowing

• IYK 0.37%, with no fee waiver in place. Near the category median, but well above the index heavyweights: XLP at 0.08%, FSTA at 0.084%, VDC at 0.09%.
• About 50 holdings, cap-weighted. The capping rules shave the top rather than spreading weight evenly, so a few household names carry much of the fund.
• Trades moderately, with a thinner tape than the largest funds in the staples aisle.

• XLP About 40 names, market-cap weighted with index caps applied for diversification. The biggest retailers and household-product giants still carry outsized weight.spglobal.com
• U.S. only. Foreign staples heavyweights sit outside the mandate; KXI casts a global net, and RSPS spreads weight evenly instead of by size.
• This is one slice of the S&P 500, not a diversified core. Staples run on their own cycle and can drift far from the broad market for long stretches.

Full IYK profile⁠

Full XLP profile⁠