Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
USO vs VEU: Differences, Returns & Fees
USO is a commodity futures fund and VEU an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, USO returned +133.3% against +14.4%.
askIQ about this page
askIQ about USO and VEU
Net assets: $1.9bn on Oct 28, 2026 for United States Oil Fund, LP, and $68.1bn on Sep 30, 2026 for Vanguard FTSE All World Ex US ETF.
Pair scorecard
VEU costs 0.82 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 118.9 points.
| Measure | USO | VEU |
|---|---|---|
| Return | ||
| Total return, 1 year | +133.3% | +14.4% |
| Drawdown | ||
| Below its high | 82.3%, high on Jul 14, 2008 | 5.0%, high on Sep 4, 2026 |
| Benchmark | ||
| What it tracks | Oil futures | FTSE All-World ex US Index |
| Cost and size | ||
| Expense ratio | 0.86% | 0.04% |
| Net assets, USO as of Oct 28, 2026 and VEU as of Sep 30, 2026 | $1.9bn | $68.1bn |
| Holdings | ||
| Holdings in common | not published | |
| In the S&P 500, by weight | 0% | |
| Top ten holdings, share of the fund | 15.2% | |
Risk and return
Mar 16, 2007 to Oct 23, 2026 · 1,023 weekly returnsVEU returned more: +173.1% to −56.2%. VEU swung less: 19.3% to 37.6%. VEU fell less at its worst: −60.1% to −98.0%.
Full scorecard
9 measures, with how each is measured Open ↓
| Measure | USO | VEU | Edge | How it is measured |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Return | ||||
| Total return | −56.2% | +173.1% | VEU | Price change plus distributions, reinvested. |
| Annualized | −4.1% | +5.2% | VEU | Total return as a yearly rate. |
| Price return | −56.2% | +59.0% | VEU | Price change alone, distributions left out. |
| Risk | ||||
| Volatility | 37.6% | 19.3% | VEU | Spread of weekly returns, annualized. Lower is steadier. |
| Downside deviation | 27.1% | 14.0% | VEU | Like volatility, counting only weeks below the Treasury bill rate. |
| Max drawdown | −98.0% | −60.1% | VEU | Deepest fall from a high to the low after it. |
| Risk-adjusted | ||||
| Sharpe | 0.04 | 0.28 | VEU | Return above Treasury bills per unit of volatility. |
| Sortino | 0.05 | 0.39 | VEU | Return above Treasury bills per unit of downside deviation. |
| Calmar | −0.04 | 0.09 | VEU | Annualized return divided by the max drawdown. |
Computed by ETFIQ from Tiingo daily prices and ETFIQ's distribution records, 1,023 weekly returns. Cash rate: the 13-week Treasury bill.
Side by side
USO and VEU on the fields both publish, as of Oct 28, 2026. Source: ETFIQ.
USO and VEU do different jobs. What does each one do in a portfolio?
- What each follows. USO follows Oil futures and VEU follows FTSE All-World ex US Index.
- One-year total return. Over 1 year to Oct 28, 2026 USO returned +133.3% and VEU +14.4% with distributions reinvested, a gap of 118.9 points.
- Cost. USO charges 0.86% of assets a year and VEU 0.04%, a gap of 0.82 points.
Data as of Oct 28, 2026.
The two-page PDF for this pair is coming. Save the comparison to follow its changes. Free. It needs an email sign-in, once.
USO
USO holds oil futures. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +133.3% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.86% a year. It sat 82.3% below its high of Jul 14, 2008 on Oct 28, 2026.
VEU
VEU tracks the FTSE All-World ex-US. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +14.4% with distributions reinvested. The prospectus expense ratio is 0.04% a year. By its holdings published by its issuer as of Sep 30, 2026, 0% of the fund by weight is stocks the S&P 500 also holds, across 3,816 positions, with the top ten at 15.2%. It sat 5.0% below its high of Sep 4, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.
Questions people ask
- Which returned more over the last year, USO or VEU?
- In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, USO returned +133.3% and VEU +14.4%.
- Which is cheaper, USO or VEU?
- VEU is cheaper, by 0.82 percentage points a year. That is about $82 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.
Links are sources, not endorsements. A comparison is not a recommendation.
Cite this pageCitation, APA and Markdown
ETFIQ, USO against VEU, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/uso-vs-veu
ETFIQ. (Oct 28, 2026). USO against VEU. Retrieved from https://etfiq.com/compare/any/uso-vs-veu
[USO against VEU (ETFIQ, Oct 28, 2026)](https://etfiq.com/compare/any/uso-vs-veu)
Free to use with attribution for data ETFIQ computes; issuer data stays under its owner's terms.