RSPM vs XME

RSPMCInvesco S&P 500 Equal Weight Materials ETF

XMEBState Street SPDR S&P Metals & Mining ETF

In short

RSPM Materials, cut into even slices. RSPM gives every materials stock in the S&P 500 the same weight, so the sector's smallest name counts as much as its largest, and it has run that way since 2006.

XME Not the chemicals-heavy materials fund. XME holds roughly 40 miners and steelmakers on a modified equal weight, so a small copper name carries about the weight of a giant. Ore, coal and metal, since 2006.

Stated mandate

RSPM The fund tracks an index that equally weights stocks in the materials sector of the S&P 500® Index.

XME The fund seeks to track, before fees and expenses, the total return performance of the S&P Metals and Mining Select Industry Index.

Why people hold it

• RSPM Equal weighting is the whole point: each S&P 500 materials name gets the same slice, so a few giant chemical and industrial-gas stocks do not set the tone.invesco.com
• The index resets holdings back toward equal weight instead of letting winners compound into outsized positions, which keeps the tilt toward the sector's smaller members intact.invesco.com
• Trading since 2006 on the same rulebook, through multiple commodity cycles. Distributions come quarterly.
• It stays on task: the portfolio tracks its equal-weight materials index closely rather than wandering into adjacent sectors.

• XME Pure play on the metals and mining slice: aluminum, coal, copper, gold, precious metals, silver and steel sub-industries, not the whole materials sector.ssga.com
• Modified equal weighting spreads exposure across large, mid and small caps, so the biggest miners don't set the tone for the whole portfolio.ssga.com
• One of the more actively traded funds in its corner of the market, and a multi-billion-dollar fund that has been running since 2006.
• 0.35% expense ratio, slightly under the median for the materials funds we grade, which is unusual for a narrow industry sleeve.

Worth knowing

• RSPM At 0.40% a year it runs above the typical materials ETF, and cap-weighted rivals such as XLB and VAW charge a fraction of that for the same sector.
• Thinly traded and modest in size, so bid-ask spreads can be wider than on the sector's most heavily traded funds.
• Around two dozen stocks in one cyclical corner of the market, and equal weighting leans harder on the smaller names than a cap-weighted fund does.

• XME Broad materials funds cost far less: XLB at 0.08% and VAW at 0.09%. They also own a very different mix, chemicals and packaging included.
• About 40 names, many of them smaller miners, in one cyclical industry. Swings run wider than a diversified sector fund's.
• The portfolio's fortunes track commodity cycles in steel, coal, copper and gold rather than broad industrial demand.ssga.com

Full RSPM profile⁠

Full XME profile⁠