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

In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, USO returned +133.3% and XLF +7.6%.

Which is cheaper, USO or XLF?

XLF 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 XLF: Differences, Returns & Fees

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USO is a commodity futures fund and XLF an equity index fund, and over the year to Oct 28, 2026, USO returned +133.3% against +7.6%.

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Net assets: $1.9bn on Oct 28, 2026 for United States Oil Fund, LP, and $51.6bn on Oct 27, 2026 for State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF.

USO on its own →XLF on its own →

At a glance

+133.3%

USO total return, 1 year

+7.6%

XLF total return, 1 year

0.86%

USO expense ratio

0.08%

XLF expense ratio

Pair scorecard

XLF costs 0.78 points a year less; their one-year returns differ by 125.7 points; XLF is far larger, $51.6bn against $1.9bn.

USO vs XLF: Differences, Returns & Fees
Measure	USO	XLF
Return
Measure	USO	XLF
Total return, 1 year	+133.3%	+7.6%
Drawdown
Measure	USO	XLF
Below its high	82.3%, high on Jul 14, 2008	3.8%, high on Sep 3, 2026
Benchmark
Measure	USO	XLF
What it tracks	Oil futures	Financial Select Sector Index
Cost and size
Measure	USO	XLF
Expense ratio	0.86%	0.08%
Net assets, as of Oct 27, 2026	$1.9bn	$51.6bn
Holdings
Measure	USO	XLF
Holdings in common	not published
In the S&P 500, by weight		100%
Top ten holdings, share of the fund		57.4%

Method

Side by side

USO United States Oil Fund, LP XLF State Street Financial 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 Financials

Total return, 1 year +133.3% +7.6%

Expense ratio 0.86% 0.08%

Holdings not counted 77

Net assets, USO as of Oct 28, 2026 and XLF as of Oct 27, 2026 $1.9bn $51.6bn

USO and XLF 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.

XLF

XLF tracks an index of Financials. Over the year to Oct 28, 2026 it returned +7.6% 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 77 positions, with the top ten at 57.4%. It sat 3.8% below its high of Sep 3, 2026 on Oct 28, 2026.

Questions people ask

Which returned more over the last year, USO or XLF?: In the year to Oct 28, 2026, with distributions reinvested, USO returned +133.3% and XLF +7.6%.
Which is cheaper, USO or XLF?: XLF 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

KRE vs USO USO vs VNQ USO vs XLI USO vs VGT BWET vs XLF GLD vs XLF GLDM vs XLF IAU vs XLF

Where to next

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

Sources and dates

USCF website ↗

XLF filings on SEC EDGAR ↗

XLF 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 XLF, data as of Oct 28, 2026. https://etfiq.com/compare/any/uso-vs-xlf

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