Which returned more over the last year, IAU or XLE?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and XLE +61.2%.

Which is cheaper, IAU or XLE?

XLE is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. That is about $17 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

IAU vs XLE: Differences, Returns & Fees

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IAU is a commodity fund and XLE an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, XLE returned +61.2% against +2.7%.

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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $45.2bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF.

IAU on its own →XLE on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

+61.2%

XLE total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.08%

XLE expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLE costs 0.17 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 58.5 points; IAU is 1.3 times larger.

IAU vs XLE: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	XLE
Return
Measure	IAU	XLE
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	+61.2%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	XLE
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	XLE
What it tracks	Gold	Energy Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	XLE
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$60.3bn	$45.2bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	XLE
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		100%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		78.1%

Method

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust XLE State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Holds gold Tracks an index of Energy

Total return, 1 year +2.7% +61.2%

Its benchmark over the same days +2.5% (GLD) not measured

Gap to its benchmark +0.2 pts vs GLD not measured

Expense ratio 0.25% 0.08%

Holdings not counted 22

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and XLE as of Oct 27, 2026 $60.1bn $45.2bn

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

Alert

About each fund

IAU

Its expense ratio is 0.25% a year, for the three months to Jun 30, 2026, as its 10-Q states.

IAU holds gold. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +2.7% with distributions reinvested, against +2.5% for its benchmark, the price of gold. It sat 24.6% below its high of Jan 29, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

XLE

XLE tracks an index of Energy. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +61.2% 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 22 positions, with the top ten at 78.1%.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or XLE?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and XLE +61.2%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or XLE?: XLE is cheaper, by 0.17 percentage points a year. That is about $17 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's own filings.

Other comparisons

IAU vs VDE IAU vs XOP IAU vs IYE IAU vs XLV SLV vs XLE USO vs XLE SIVR vs XLE BWET vs XLE

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

XLE filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

XLE prospectus with the expense ratio (SEC) ↗

State Street website ↗

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

Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown

ETFIQ, IAU against XLE, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-xle

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