State Street Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF

XLB

Valor de mercado US$ 8,05 bi

The AI infrastructure selloff has hit AI-linked industrials, including copper producers, potentially setting up a buying opportunity for investors with a longer-term outlook. While modelling by Goldman Sachs estimates that AI expectations are the biggest driver of today's copper prices, S&P Global projects AI and data centers will only account for about 10%. Under S&P Global's model, eliminating the entire data-center sector, including conventional cloud and internet services, would still leave a 7.5 million-tonne annual copper supply gap by 2040, versus its baseline.

Industrial (XLI) and Materials (XLB) sectors have underperformed the broader market both in terms of price and dividend growth. In particular, XLI's dividend declined 11.8% YOY as of the 2026 September declaration (and XLB's up just 0.5% YOY).

September proved to be a fairly tumultuous month for many equity sectors outside of tech, and the materials sector was no exception.  Key Takeaways: With the exception of tech, many equity sectors struggled to perform well in September.

U.S. equity markets were mixed this week, with technology and growth-related areas leading, while several defensive and rate-sensitive sectors moved lower. The NASDAQ 100 ETF rose 3.24%, and the S&P 500 ETF gained 1.29%, supported by strong performance in Technology, Communication Services, Health Care, and Industrials.

Wedbush is betting that there is still an investment-friendly economy beyond artificial intelligence.

The Basic Materials sector has outperformed in 2026, but momentum may stall in Q4 due to macro headwinds. Top XLB holdings like Newmont, Freeport-McMoran, Linde, Corteva, Air Products and Chemicals, and Nucor have delivered strong YTD performance, while SHW and VMC have lagged.

Construction materials and packaging are moderately overvalued, while chemicals show the weakest combination of value and quality scores. XLB's portfolio is heavily concentrated, with chemicals comprising 49% of assets and the top 10 holdings accounting for nearly 59%. XLB has outperformed the S&P 500 from 1999 through 2023, then lagged by a wide margin over the past three years.

The stock market typically takes a hit in early fall. We like two sector ETFs whose September dips are regularly bested by their bigger rises in October.

Oil stocks, materials and techs have been market leaders this year. That trend could continue if the Federal Reserve raises interest rates later this year and in 2027.

The State Street Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB) was launched on December 16, 1998, and is a passively managed exchange traded fund designed to offer broad exposure to the Materials - Broad segment of the equity market.