Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund

XLF

Market cap $52.3B

The Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund offers exposure to U.S. financial services but has underperformed the S&P 500 since inception. XLF's concentrated portfolio features top holdings like Berkshire Hathaway and JPM, yet its diversification is enhanced by their varied business segments. XLF's historical risk-adjusted returns lagged the broader market, with higher volatility and lower compensation for added risk.

XLK and other sector ETFs set to gain as expectations surge for a potential Federal Reserve rate cut in December.

"Bloomberg ETF IQ" focuses on the opportunities, risks and current trends tied to the trillions of dollars in the global exchange traded funds industry. Today's guests: Capital Group Head of Global Product Strategy and Development Holly Framsted, State Street Investment Management CEO Yie-Hsin Hung and HDGE ETF Co-Portfolio Manager Brad Lamensdorf.

According to numbers released Monday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the US banking industry's quarterly profitability rebounded sharply, jumping 13.5% to $79.3 billion in the third quarter of 2025.

Many financial companies are slow-growing and balance sheet intensive, making them more common in value funds and usually less appealing to growth strategies. However, there are asset-light firms that have competitive advantages and that are benefiting from secular trends.

Looking for broad exposure to the Financials - Broad segment of the equity market? You should consider the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF), a passively managed exchange traded fund launched on December 16, 1998.

State Street, which manages roughly $1.7 trillion in ETFs, is planning to offer traditional mutual fund versions of its exchange-traded funds in the retirement plan market, including 401(k) and 403(b) plans. Its ETFs include the oldest and most-traded S&P 500 product, SPY, and the world's biggest gold ETF, GLD, which combined have close to $850 billion in assets, as well as the Select Sector SPDRs.

Matt Camuso, Head of ETF Solutions at BNY Investments, says there are $13 trillion of assets in ETFs. That's compared to $5 trillion a year prior.

Anna Paglia, State Street Investment Research CBO and chief business officer, joins CNBC's Dom Chu on the type of assets and ETFs State Street is seeing the flows into. She also shares why the firm is going against the trend by moving into mutual funds.

The stock market is historically expensive. Even as a recession is more and more plausible in the near future. Fortunately, many defensive dividend payers remain opportunistic.