The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund

XLC

Market cap $27.6B

The technology sector gets a lot of love from financial media, retail investors and sell-side firms. It's home to the biggest players in the ongoing AI rally, as well as most of the Magnificent Seven stocks.

IXP and XLC are two perfectly acceptable ETF's for investing in the overall Communications Services sector. The sector performance has been very good and the outlook remains attractive. IXP has a global focus, while XLC only holds equity in the companies in from the S&P 500. ETFs provide ease-of-use and instant diversification, but they have disadvantages as well.

U.S.-listed ETFs attracted nearly $19 billion during the week ended Aug. 8, with fixed income approaches decisively leading investor allocations, according to data from Etf.com.

ETFs saw $19B in inflows last week, led by fixed income, with XLC, VOO, IVV, VCSH and SGOV topping the asset creation list.

July U.S. ETFs saw gains in both flows and AUM as well as another elevated round of launches. In the tidal wave of funds coming to market, a few ETF strategies stand out for their innovation or for notable opportunities they provide.

The S&P 500 hit record highs multiple times in late July 2025. While investors seeking capital appreciation should be thrilled, those wanting income from their equity investments are likely a little disappointed.

Wednesday, July 23 came and went with another spate of earnings to report. While the still-hot theme of artificial intelligence (AI) living through big tech earnings may grab headlines, the communications sector specifically may also speak to investors.

Today's market reminds us of 1999 in many ways. REITs were hated. Tech was loved. But afterward, REITs strongly outperformed. Here's why it could happen again.

XLC is outperforming in 2024, with broad-based rallies beyond just mega-cap names like Alphabet, Meta, and Netflix. The sector's diverse composition and reasonable valuation (P/E ~18) provide room for multiple expansion and continued outperformance. Recent earnings and macro trends suggest markets were too pessimistic, and the economic backdrop supports further gains for XLC.

Top ETFs like ITA, SOCL, GRID, XLC and XLI soared in 1H25 and are displaying signals for a strong 2H rally.