Which returned more over the last year, ACWI or XLC?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +13.4% and XLC −10.4%.

Which is cheaper, ACWI or XLC?

XLC is cheaper, by 0.24 percentage points a year. That is about $24 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

How much do ACWI and XLC overlap with the S&P 500?

By their latest filed holdings, 61% of ACWI and 100% of XLC by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

ACWI vs XLC: Differences, Returns & Fees

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Over the year to Oct 28, 2026, ACWI returned +13.4% to XLC's −10.4%; 6% of their weight is in the same names.

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Net assets: $33.0bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares MSCI ACWI ETF, and $22.1bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Communication Services Select Sector SPDR ETF.

ACWI on its own →XLC on its own →

At a glance

+13.4%

ACWI total return, 1 year

−10.4%

XLC total return, 1 year

0.32%

ACWI expense ratio

0.08%

XLC expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLC costs 0.24 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 23.8 points; ACWI is 1.5 times larger.

ACWI vs XLC: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	ACWI	XLC
Return
Measure	ACWI	XLC
Total return, 1 year	+13.4%	−10.4%
Drawdown
Measure	ACWI	XLC
Below its high		13.3%, high on Jan 30, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	ACWI	XLC
What it tracks	MSCI ACWI	Communication Services Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	ACWI	XLC
Expense ratio	0.32%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 26, 2026	$32.6bn	$22.2bn
Holdings
Measure	ACWI	XLC
Holdings in common	6%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund	24.9%	75.3%

Holdings in common uses holdings dated Oct 27, 2026. Method

What they share

By the books each fund has filed, ACWI and XLC hold 6% of their money in the same securities at the same weight. Holdings dated Oct 27, 2026.

50%

0 half 100%

half

6% in common

Positions both hold · largest shared weight first ACWI XLC

ALPHABET CLASS A 1.83% 12.27%

ALPHABET CLASS C 1.44% 9.82%

META PLATFORMS CLASS A 1.33% 21.45%

NETFLIX 0.25% 4.14%

WALT DISNEY 0.19% 5.33%

VERIZON COMMUNICATIONS INC 0.18% 4.45%

AT&T 0.14% 4.20%

COMCAST CLASS A 0.08% 4.48%

T MOBILE US INC 0.07% 4.17%

APPLOVIN CLASS A 0.06% 4.34%

TAKE TWO INTERACTIVE SOFTWARE 0.04% 4.80%

LIVE NATION ENTERTAINMENT 0.03% 3.87%

Only in one fund ↓

Only in ACWI

APPLE 4.97%

NVIDIA 4.89%

MICROSOFT 3.66%

AMAZON.COM INC 2.39%

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING 1.77%

BROADCOM INC 1.51%

TESLA INC 1.14%

MICRON TECHNOLOGY 1.02%

Only in XLC

TKO GROUP HOLDINGS INC 1.47%

SKYDANCE CORP 0.60%

NEWS CORP CLASS B 0.55%

S+P EMINI COM SER DEC26 -0.03%

Check overlap with more funds →

Side by side

ACWI iShares MSCI ACWI ETF XLC State Street Communication Services Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Stock ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Tracks the MSCI ACWI Tracks an index of Communication services

Total return, 1 year +13.4% −10.4%

Expense ratio 0.32% 0.08%

Already in the S&P 500 60.9% 99.8%

Holdings 2197 23

Net assets, ACWI as of Oct 28, 2026 and XLC as of Oct 27, 2026 $33.0bn $22.1bn

ACWI and XLC on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.

Alert

About each fund

ACWI

ACWI tracks the MSCI ACWI. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +13.4% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.32% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 61% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 2,197 positions, with the top ten at 24.9%.

XLC

XLC tracks an index of Communication services. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −10.4% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.08% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer for Oct 27, 2026, 100% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 23 positions, with the top ten at 75.3%. It sat 13.3% below its high of Jan 30, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, ACWI or XLC?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, ACWI returned +13.4% and XLC −10.4%.
Which is cheaper, ACWI or XLC?: XLC is cheaper, by 0.24 percentage points a year. That is about $24 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
How much do ACWI and XLC overlap with the S&P 500?: By their latest filed holdings, 61% of ACWI and 100% of XLC by weight is stocks the S&P 500 already holds.

Other comparisons

ACWI vs VOX ACWI vs VHT ACWI vs XLI ACWI vs XLP VT vs XLC URTH vs XLC IDEV vs XLC VGK vs XLC

Where to next

ACWI on its own →XLC on its own →Hold both: look the portfolio through →Rankings →ACWI dividend history →ACWI holdings →XLC dividend history →XLC holdings →Standards and sources →

Sources and dates

ACWI filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

ACWI prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

iShares page for ACWI ↗

XLC filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

XLC prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

State Street website ↗

Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.

How this is computed

Overlap adds up the smaller of the two weights for each security both funds hold.

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, ACWI against XLC, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/acwi-vs-xlc

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Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.