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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and XLI +10.2%.

Which is cheaper, IAU or XLI?

XLI 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 XLI: Differences, Returns & Fees

Share on X Download as PDF

IAU is a commodity fund and XLI an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, XLI returned +10.2% against +2.7%.

askIQ about this page

askIQ about IAU and XLI

Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $30.8bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF.

IAU on its own →XLI on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

+10.2%

XLI total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.08%

XLI expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLI costs 0.17 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 7.5 points; IAU is 2.0 times larger.

IAU vs XLI: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	XLI
Return
Measure	IAU	XLI
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	+10.2%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	XLI
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026	9.4%, high on Aug 14, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	XLI
What it tracks	Gold	Industrial Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	XLI
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$60.3bn	$30.8bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	XLI
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		100%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		37.8%

Method

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust XLI State Street Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Holds gold Tracks an index of Industrials

Total return, 1 year +2.7% +10.2%

Its benchmark over the same days +2.5% (GLD) +13.6% (SPY)

Gap to its benchmark +0.2 pts vs GLD −3.4 pts vs SPY

Expense ratio 0.25% 0.08%

Holdings not counted 84

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and XLI as of Oct 27, 2026 $60.1bn $30.8bn

IAU and XLI 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.

XLI

XLI tracks an index of Industrials. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +10.2% with distributions reinvested, against +13.6% for its benchmark, the S&P 500 Index. 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 84 positions, with the top ten at 37.8%. It sat 9.4% below its high of Aug 14, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or XLI?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and XLI +10.2%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or XLI?: XLI 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 XLF IAU vs SCHH IAU vs XLB IAU vs XHB SLV vs XLI USO vs XLI SIVR vs XLI BWET vs XLI

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

XLI filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

XLI 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 XLI, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/iau-vs-xli

Open data →

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