Select Spdrs
What are Select Sector SPDRs? What are sector spiders?
Select Sector SPDRs are electronically-traded-funds (ETFs) composed of stocks from the S&P 500 representing a specific area of the economy. Stocks are often grouped by sector, or the industry in which the underlying companies operate: energy, finance, health care, basic materials, capital goods, consumer cyclical, consumer non-cyclical, etc. For instance, a Select Sector SPDR might contain only shares of capital goods companies from the S&P 500.
Standard and Poor’s Depository Receipts (SPDRs), often pronounced as “spiders,” are ETFs that hold shares for every single company in the S&P 500 and mimic the S&P 500’s performance. SPDRs, unlike mutual funds, can be bought and sold throughout the normal trading day.