RXI vs XRT

RXIDiShares Global Consumer Discretionary ETF

XRTBState Street SPDR S&P Retail ETF

In short

RXI Most consumer discretionary ETFs stop at the US border. RXI doesn't: roughly 130 carmakers, retailers and luxury houses worldwide in one ticker, tracking a global index since 2006.

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

RXI The fund seeks to track an index of global consumer-discretionary equities, providing diversified access to companies that make non-essential goods and services.

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

• RXI Tracks the S&P Global 1200 Consumer Discretionary Sector Capped Index, so Japanese and European names sit next to the US giants instead of being left out.ishares.com
• The top-ranked rivals here (XLY, FDIS, VCR, RSPD) are US-only. RXI is the global take on the same sector, a genuinely different basket rather than another S&P 500 slice.
• Live since 2006, with an index that caps individual weights so no single mega-cap swallows the fund. Roughly 130 holdings spread the bet.

• 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

• RXI Global reach costs more: 0.37% a year, above the peer-group median of 0.35% and several times what US-only options like XLY and FDIS (0.08%) charge.
• One of the quieter tickers in the category, so bid-ask spreads tend to run wider than the heavily traded US sector funds.
• Distributions land once or twice a year, not quarterly or monthly. Non-US holdings also bring currency movement into the return.

• 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 RXI profile⁠

Full XRT profile⁠