PSCD vs XRT

PSCDCInvesco S&P SmallCap Consumer Discretionary ETF

XRTBState Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF

In short

PSCD The small end of the shopping cart. PSCD tracks an index of US small-cap consumer-discretionary stocks, roughly 90 of them, and has been doing it since 2010 for 0.29% a year.

XRT Pure retail, not broad consumer discretionary. XRT equal-weights roughly 80 store chains and online sellers, so a small-cap mall retailer carries about as much freight as a mega-cap giant. It has been the sector's trading vehicle since 2006.

Stated mandate

PSCD The fund tracks an index measuring the performance of common stocks of US consumer-discretionary companies.

XRT The fund seeks to provide investment results that generally correspond to the total return performance of the S&P Retail Select Industry Index, before fees and expenses.

Why people hold it

• PSCD One ticker for the small-cap corner of US consumer discretionary rather than the broad sector.invesco.com
• 0.29% a year, below the middle of the fee range in its consumer-discretionary peer group.
• Roughly 90 stocks, picked by index rules, and the fund has tracked that index closely. Distributions land quarterly.
• Trading since 2010, with a full cycle of consumer booms and slumps behind it, and it sits in the upper half of its sector peer group.

• XRT Modified equal weight: the index resets constituents toward equal slices each quarter, so a single giant retailer does not run the whole fund.spglobal.com
• Retail only: apparel, automotive, broadline, computer and electronics, staples merchandise, drug, food and specialty stores. Car dealers count, carmakers do not.ssga.com
• Trading since 2006 and very actively traded, one of the older and busier ways to take a targeted position on US retail rather than a whole sector.ssga.com
• Sticks tightly to its index and stands among the stronger builds in its consumer discretionary peer group. Pays quarterly.

Worth knowing

• PSCD Thinly traded with a small asset base, so bid-ask spreads can run wider than in the sector's biggest funds.
• Broad-sector rivals cost less: XLY and FDIS at 0.08%, VCR at 0.09%. The small-cap mandate is what you're paying up for.
• One sector, small companies only. Moves track consumer spending closely, with no ballast from the rest of the market.

• XRT At 0.35% it costs more than broad cap-weighted discretionary funds like XLY and FDIS near 0.08%. The focus and the equal weighting are what the extra buys.
• Equal weighting pulls small and mid-cap chains up next to the giants, so moves can be sharper than a cap-weighted sector fund's.ssga.com
• One industry, roughly 80 names. When shoppers tighten up, there is no other sector inside the fund to cushion it.

Full PSCD profile⁠

Full XRT profile⁠