Which returned more over the last year, USO or XLC?

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, USO returned +133.3% and XLC −10.4%.

Which is cheaper, USO or XLC?

XLC is cheaper, by 0.78 percentage points a year. That is about $78 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Data as of Oct 28, 2026.

Across categories

USO vs XLC: Differences, Returns & Fees

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USO is a commodity futures fund and XLC an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, USO returned +133.3% against −10.4%.

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Net assets: $1.9bn on Oct 28, 2026 for United States Oil Fund, LP, and $22.1bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Communication Services Select Sector SPDR ETF.

USO on its own →XLC on its own →

At a glance

+133.3%

USO total return, 1 year

−10.4%

XLC total return, 1 year

0.86%

USO expense ratio

0.08%

XLC expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLC costs 0.78 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 143.7 points; XLC is 11.6 times larger.

USO vs XLC: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	USO	XLC
Return
Measure	USO	XLC
Total return, 1 year	+133.3%	−10.4%
Drawdown
Measure	USO	XLC
Below its high	82.3%, high on Jul 14, 2008	13.3%, high on Jan 30, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	USO	XLC
What it tracks	Oil futures	Communication Services Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	USO	XLC
Expense ratio	0.86%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$1.9bn	$22.1bn
Holdings
Measure	USO	XLC
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		100%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		75.3%

Method

Side by side

USO United States Oil Fund, LP XLC State Street Communication Services Select Sector SPDR ETF

Where it sits Commodity ETF Stock ETF

Issuer USCF State Street

What it is Holds oil futures Tracks an index of Communication services

Total return, 1 year +133.3% −10.4%

Expense ratio 0.86% 0.08%

Holdings not counted 23

Net assets, USO as of Oct 28, 2026 and XLC as of Oct 27, 2026 $1.9bn $22.1bn

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

Alert

About each fund

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.

XLC

XLC tracks an index of Communication services. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned −10.4% 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 23 positions, with the top ten at 75.3%. It sat 13.3% below its high of Jan 30, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, USO or XLC?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, USO returned +133.3% and XLC −10.4%.
Which is cheaper, USO or XLC?: XLC is cheaper, by 0.78 percentage points a year. That is about $78 on $10,000 held for a year. Fees come from each fund's prospectus.

Other comparisons

USO vs VOX FTEC vs USO IYW vs USO USO vs VHT BWET vs XLC GLDM vs XLC IAU vs XLC GLD vs XLC

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

USCF website ↗

XLC filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

XLC 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, USO against XLC, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/uso-vs-xlc

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