SPDR S&P Retail ETF

SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT), from State Street, tracks the S&P Retail Select Industry Index, which held 75 US retail stocks as of July 31, 2026. Most funds weight companies by size. This one gives each stock a roughly equal weight, so no single company dominates: its largest holding, Groupon, was 1.78% of the fund as of June 30, 2026. It costs 0.35% a year, close to similar funds, but its price swings hard. It fell 31.67% in 2022.

• Over the year to Oct 27, 2026, XRT returned +3.0%, 2nd of 7 among similar funds.
• Its 5-year annualized return was +0.5%.
• Its worst full calendar year was 2022 (-31.6%); its best was 2021 (+42.6%).
• The deepest fall in its price history was 44.6% (Nov 16, 2021 to Sep 30, 2022), not yet recovered.

As of Jun 30, 2026, the fund held 75 securities; the ten largest made up 16.13% of assets. It also reported 4.97% in a money-market fund, most likely cash collateral from lending out shares rather than uninvested money.

• Over the three months to Jun 30, 2026, investors added a net $121.6M (creations minus redemptions, per the N-PORT report).
• Monthly total returns reported for that quarter: +6.70%, -2.13%, +4.61%.

XRT tracks the S&P Retail Select Industry Index, run by S&P Dow Jones Indices. The index takes the retail slice of the S&P Total Market Index, which covers the broad US stock market. It keeps US-based companies from eight retail sub-industries, including apparel, auto, drug, food, electronics and broadline retail. To get in, a stock usually needs a float-adjusted market value of at least $500 million. That is the price times the shares the public can actually trade. A stock that trades very heavily can qualify at $400 million. A stock is dropped if its value falls below $300 million or its trading dries up. The index held 75 stocks as of July 31, 2026.

The index is "modified equal weighted": each company gets about the same weight, whatever its size. As of June 30, 2026, no holding was above 1.8% of the fund, and the 10 largest made up 16.13% together. The index rebalances quarterly, on the third Friday of the last month of each quarter. A second reweighting follows late in that month. Portfolio turnover was 48%.

The adviser, SSGA Funds Management, uses a sampling strategy. It can hold every stock in the index or a representative subset, but it must keep at least 80% of net assets in index stocks. It may use futures to manage cash. The 4.97% cash position as of June 30, 2026, probably reflects collateral from lending out securities.

• XRT charges 0.35% a year, versus an average of 0.36% for the similar funds below (3rd of 7, cheapest first).
• Using the prospectus's standard example, $10,000 invested would cost about $36 in the first year and $443 over 10 years (assuming a 5% annual return).

It is a narrow bet on one industry, with large losses in past downturns and little income, so it fits as a small add-on to a broad portfolio rather than its center.

XRT could add focused exposure to US retailers, but it has been a bumpy ride. The fund's price history starts in June 2020, so it does not show the 2008 crisis. The prospectus records a 34.92% drop in the first quarter of 2020, and the fund lost 31.67% in 2022. In the 2022 bear market it fell 37.6% and took about 35 months to get back to its January 2022 level. Its deepest drop was 44.6%, from November 16, 2021, to September 30, 2022. It had not regained that peak as of October 27, 2026. Someone forced to sell in a slump could lock in losses like these. Income is small: a 0.85% yield as of October 27, 2026, paid quarterly. Past results don't predict the future, and a plan should look at the whole portfolio, not one fund.

Matched by closest holdings overlap from the latest N-PORT reports (no similar fund shares 20% or more of its holdings).