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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and XLU −3.0%.

Which is cheaper, IAU or XLU?

XLU 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 XLU: Differences, Returns & Fees

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IAU is a commodity fund and XLU an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IAU returned +2.7% against −3.0%.

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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $23.9bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF.

IAU on its own →XLU on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

−3.0%

XLU total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.08%

XLU expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLU costs 0.17 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 5.7 points; IAU is 2.5 times larger.

IAU vs XLU: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	XLU
Return
Measure	IAU	XLU
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	−3.0%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	XLU
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026	9.1%, high on Feb 27, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	XLU
What it tracks	Gold	Utilities Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	XLU
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$60.3bn	$23.9bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	XLU
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		100%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		58.7%

Method

Risk and return

Feb 4, 2005 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,133 weekly returns

IAU XLU

Return

Total return edge IAU +805.4% +516.4%

Annualized edge IAU +10.6% +8.7%

Price return edge IAU +805.4% +192.5%

Risk

Volatility edge IAU (slight) 17.4% 17.9%

Max drawdown edge Tie −44.4% −45.2%

Risk-adjusted

Sharpe edge IAU 0.56 0.46

Sortino edge IAU 0.82 0.64

Calmar edge IAU 0.24 0.19

Reading

IAU returned more: +805.4% to +516.4%. IAU swung slightly less: 17.4% to 17.9%. IAU and XLU fell about the same at their worst: −44.4% and −45.2%.

Full scorecard

9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓

Risk and return: IAU vs XLU: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	XLU	Edge	How it is measured
Return
Total return	+805.4%	+516.4%	IAU	Price change plus distributions, reinvested.
Annualized	+10.6%	+8.7%	IAU	Total return as a yearly rate.
Price return	+805.4%	+192.5%	IAU	Price change alone, distributions left out.
Risk
Volatility	17.4%	17.9%	IAU (slight)	Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier.
Downside deviation	11.9%	12.8%	IAU (slight)	Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate.
Max drawdown	−44.4%	−45.2%	Tie	Deepest fall from a high to the low after it.
Risk-adjusted
Sharpe	0.56	0.46	IAU	Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility.
Sortino	0.82	0.64	IAU	Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation.
Calmar	0.24	0.19	IAU	Annualized return divided by the max drawdown.

Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,133 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust XLU State Street Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Holds gold Tracks an index of Utilities

Total return, 1 year +2.7% −3.0%

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 32

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and XLU as of Oct 27, 2026 $60.1bn $23.9bn

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

Client brief · page 1 of 2 Report BR-89F61EF403

IAU and XLU do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?

What each follows. IAU follows Gold and XLU follows Utilities Select Sector Index.
One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 IAU returned +2.7% and XLU −3.0% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 5.7 points.
Cost. IAU charges 0.25% of assets a year and XLU 0.08%, a gap of 0.17 points.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

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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.

XLU

XLU tracks an index of Utilities. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −3.0% 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 32 positions, with the top ten at 58.7%. It sat 9.1% below its high of Feb 27, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or XLU?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and XLU −3.0%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or XLU?: XLU 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 VPU IAU vs XLY IAU vs XLC IAU vs XLI SLV vs XLU USO vs XLU SIVR vs XLU BWET vs XLU

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

XLU filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

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

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