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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and XLY −3.6%.

Which is cheaper, IAU or XLY?

XLY 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 XLY: Differences, Returns & Fees

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IAU is a commodity fund and XLY an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, IAU returned +2.7% against −3.6%.

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Net assets: $60.1bn on Oct 28, 2026 for iShares Gold Trust, and $22.4bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF.

IAU on its own →XLY on its own →

At a glance

+2.7%

IAU total return, 1 year

−3.6%

XLY total return, 1 year

0.25%

IAU expense ratio

0.08%

XLY expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLY costs 0.17 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 6.3 points; IAU is 2.7 times larger.

IAU vs XLY: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	IAU	XLY
Return
Measure	IAU	XLY
Total return, 1 year	+2.7%	−3.6%
Drawdown
Measure	IAU	XLY
Below its high	24.6%, high on Jan 29, 2026	6.8%, high on Jan 12, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	IAU	XLY
What it tracks	Gold	Consumer Discretionary Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	IAU	XLY
Expense ratio	0.25%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$60.3bn	$22.4bn
Holdings
Measure	IAU	XLY
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		100%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		68.5%

Method

Side by side

IAU iShares Gold Trust XLY State Street Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer iShares State Street

What it is Holds gold Tracks an index of Consumer discretionary

Total return, 1 year +2.7% −3.6%

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

Gap to its benchmark +0.2 pts vs GLD −17.2 pts vs SPY

Expense ratio 0.25% 0.08%

Holdings not counted 48

Net assets, IAU as of Oct 28, 2026 and XLY as of Oct 27, 2026 $60.1bn $22.4bn

IAU and XLY 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.

XLY

XLY tracks an index of Consumer discretionary. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −3.6% 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 48 positions, with the top ten at 68.5%. It sat 6.8% below its high of Jan 12, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, IAU or XLY?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, IAU returned +2.7% and XLY −3.6%.
Which is cheaper, IAU or XLY?: XLY 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 XHB IAU vs XRT IAU vs XLP IAU vs XLV SLV vs XLY USO vs XLY SIVR vs XLY BWET vs XLY

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

iShares page for IAU ↗

XLY filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

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

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