MXI vs XLB

MXICiShares Global Materials ETF

XLBAState Street Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF

In short

MXI Most materials funds stop at the US border. MXI doesn't: it tracks a global materials index, putting overseas miners, chemical makers and packagers next to the American names, and has done so since 2006.

XLB The original materials play. A 1998-vintage slice of the S&P 500's chemical, mining, packaging and building-materials names, run at eight basis points and traded in size all day long.

Stated mandate

MXI The fund seeks to track an index made up of global equities from the materials sector.

XLB The fund seeks to track, before expenses, the price and yield performance of the Materials Select Sector Index.

Why people hold it

• MXI Global by design. The fund tracks the S&P Global 1200 Materials Index, so companies listed outside the US carry real weight instead of appearing as an afterthought.ishares.com
• Running since 2006 under the iShares banner, with roughly 90 holdings spread across the sector rather than a top-heavy handful of megacaps.
• The 0.37% fee sits near the middle of the materials-fund pack, and here it buys worldwide coverage rather than a US-only slice of the sector.

• XLB Charges 0.08% a year against a peer-group median of 0.38%, and nothing in the cohort undercuts it (FMAT matches).
• Trading since December 1998 as one of the original Select Sector SPDRs, with a multi-billion-dollar asset base behind it.sec.gov
• Very actively traded for a sector fund, which is the whole point if you use it for tactical tilts rather than buy-and-forget.
• Clean mandate: chemicals, metals and mining, paper and forest products, containers and packaging, construction materials. No thematic drift.ssga.com

Worth knowing

• MXI The US-only options (XLB, VAW, FMAT) charge a fraction of this fee. The global mandate is what the extra cost is buying.
• Trading is thin next to the big US sector funds, so spreads can widen. That bites hardest on large or hurried orders.
• One sector, and a commodity-linked one: the whole portfolio rides global industrial demand with nothing else to cushion it.

• XLB Around 26 stocks, and index rules let one name reach 25% at a quarter-end measurement. A couple of chemical giants carry outsized weight.sec.gov
• The universe is the S&P 500 only. Smaller miners and specialty producers sit outside the net, which is the water VAW and XME fish in.ssga.com
• One sector, tied to commodity prices and building demand, so it can travel a very different path from the broad market. Distributions come quarterly.ssga.com

Full MXI profile⁠

Full XLB profile⁠