—
C+
C+ The full Closelooknet — membership. Open the C+ overview

Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund (XLB) — chart, structure and Closelooknet read

Pick a ticker to load its detail page.

The desk on XLB

What this diary said about Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund, what it holds and what would change its view — in its own words, dated. Investment diary, not advice.

What we said

  • “The base rung is the sector fund itself — XLB , heavy in chemicals and industrial gases, the mildest expression there is — and at +6.5% on the month against the S&P's +3.7% it has only just started outperforming.”

    Daily Pulse: Three Ladders: Gold, Crypto, Materials · 24 Aug 2026

  • “Sector (SPDR) Week Financials (XLF) +3.8% Communications (XLC) +3.2% Discretionary (XLY) +2.4% Health Care (XLV) +2.1% Industrials (XLI) +1.5% Materials (XLB) +0.8% Staples (XLP) +0.3% Technology (XLK) −0.3% Utilities (XLU) −1.0% Energy…”

    Weekly Signal: Software vs Semis — The Tape Split in Two · 5 Jul 2026

Buying from Europe — UCITS versions of XLB

EU / EEA investors · UCITS funds

Investors in the EU and the EEA usually cannot buy Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund itself: US-listed funds publish no key information document, which EU rules require. These European-domiciled funds follow the Materials Select Sector index family instead.

FundIndexDividendsDomicileXetra (EUR)Londonvs XLB, since
SPDR S&P U.S. Materials Select Sector UCITS ETFIE00BWBXM831 Same index family — Ireland ZPDM SXLB · USD −0.45 pp (11 y)

Physically replicating Irish-domiciled funds pay 15% withholding tax on US dividends under the US–Ireland tax treaty; funds domiciled in Luxembourg usually pay 30% — a structural difference that shows up in the tracking difference of funds holding US shares. "Same index family" means the European fund may cap its largest holdings harder than the US fund, as EU fund rules require, so the two can diverge when one heavyweight runs. “vs XLB, since” = the UCITS fund’s dollar line in London against XLB, total return, percentage points a year since the common start — positive means the European version returned more. Listings verified against the vendor's symbol list by ticker and ISIN. All UCITS versions · descriptive, not advice.

Closelooknet ETF read

Our dispersion engine · constituent internals

confirming down · Broad decline - breadth is falling with price. — last 21 sessions: price −7.2%, advance/decline −3.96 per name

WindowFundMedian holdingBeat / lag the fundUp / downDispersion
Day +0.2% +0.3% 15 / 11 16 / 10 1.5pp
Week +0.1% +0.3% 13 / 13 13 / 13 3.5pp
Month −7.2% −6.5% 15 / 11 0 / 26 4.0pp
Year to date +10.3% +10.6% 13 / 12 18 / 7 22.3pp

Dragged the month LIN −3.9% · CRH −12.4% · FCX −8.5% · NEM −7.5% · VMC −10.5%

Computed by the Closelooknet dispersion engine from the full constituent roster (26 names, 100% of weight) · as of 2026-09-25 · full dispersion read → · methodology · descriptive, not advice.

Dividends and capital return trailing yield 1.73%, quarterly · last 0.23 USD on 2026-09-21

Dividends and capital return

What XLB pays out and buys back — distributions read from the price series, money terms from the filings.

  • Trailing 12 months 0.86 USD per share · a 1.73% yield on the 2026-09-25 close 4 distributions, paid quarterly 2026-09-25
  • Last distribution 0.23 USD per share as the price series records it, within days of the ex-date 2026-09-21
  • By calendar year 2025: 0.23 USD (partial) · 2026: 0.63 USD to date first distribution recorded in the three-year window: 2025-12-22

Per-share amounts are derived from the adjusted price series in the listing currency, so dates sit within days of the ex-date; filing figures come from the fundamentals feed for the last reported fiscal year. An investment diary, not a recommendation.

How it trades on rate days beta 0.66 to TLT · on the worst bond days it fell more than the market

How it trades on rate days

How XLB has moved when long-dated Treasury yields rise — measured against TLT, the 20+ year Treasury fund.

  • Beta to long bonds, 1 year 0.66 — moves strongly with bonds for every 1% move in TLT (20+ year Treasuries), Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund moved 0.66% on average · correlation 0.34 · higher than 67% of US names
  • Beta, last 3 months 0.65 about the same as over the year
  • On the 10 worst bond days −1.01% on average against −0.74% for the S&P 500 the 9 sessions of the past year in which TLT fell most, i.e. long yields rose most
  • Latest of those days −1.19% TLT −1.29% that day 2026-09-24

Daily total returns from the adjusted price series; a TLT down day is a day long yields rose. Beta = the average move of the name for a 1% move in TLT. Past sensitivity, not a forecast. An investment diary, not a recommendation.

Weather around the name 4 macro readings: Money Temperature, Factor regime, Sector × region …

The weather around this name

Macro readings that apply by membership — the regime, the factor tape, the sector cell, the funding backdrop.

  • Money Temperature Composite 62/100 · S&P 500 fund at 67, bullish alignedEight instruments scored on position, momentum, volume, volatility and fragility — the regime every name trades inside. Temperature lab → 2026-09-25
  • Factor regime Momentum leading — risk appetite buildingMomentum against low volatility (SPMO / SPLV): above its 50-day trend, 99th percentile of the window, +8.4% over 20 sessions. Factor regime → 2026-09-25
  • Sector × region Materials in US: +0.1% week · −6.8% month · −3.0% quarter · +1.1% yearThe Sector Engine cell this name lives in, from XLB.US; the 11 × 4 matrix shows where its sector is being bought and where it is being sold. Sector Engine → 2026-09-26
  • Sovereign pressure Index 0.61 · up 0.29 over 21 sessionsG7 long-end yields, 10s30s and the slope — the funding weather for every balance sheet on this site. Sovereign pressure → 2026-09-25

About Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund

Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund (XLB) is an exchange-traded fund that trades on US exchanges. Closelooknet tracks it as a benchmark: the dailies and the sector dispersion board quote it as a market reference, and the holdings card above matches its largest positions against the names with a Closelooknet page. It is a constituent of Closelooknet benchmark ETF set.

closelook.net is an investment research diary — market structure, index membership and scores are our own readings, not investment advice. Related: index compare · sector dispersion · scanner.

FAQ · from the current data · as of 2026-09-26

Quick answers

What is Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund (XLB)?

Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund is an exchange-traded fund trading as XLB on the US exchange (US) and is one of the benchmark ETFs Closelooknet tracks as a market reference, as of the registry build of 2026-09-26.

How does Closelooknet use XLB?

As a benchmark: the daily editions, the sector dispersion board and the index dashboards quote Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund as a market reference, and this page matches the fund's largest holdings against the names Closelooknet covers so a reader can move from the fund to the companies inside it.

What does the Closelooknet dispersion engine say about XLB?

Broad decline - breadth is falling with price. (confirming down, last 21 sessions). Over 21 sessions the fund moved −7.2% while the median holding moved −6.5%; 15 of 26 holdings beat the fund and 0 rose. Against the S&P 500 fund it is −7.9pp over the same window. The top ten holdings carry 60.3% of the weight (effective N 17.7). As of 2026-09-25, computed from the full constituent roster — the full dispersion read carries the series; a descriptive reading from Closelooknet's research diary, not advice.

Does Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund pay a dividend?

Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund has paid 0.86 USD per share over the last twelve months, paid quarterly, a trailing yield of 1.73% on the 2026-09-25 close; the last distribution recorded in the price series was 0.23 USD on 2026-09-21. The "Dividends and capital return" block on this page carries the lines.

How does Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund trade when bond yields rise?

Over the past year Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund had a beta of 0.66 to TLT, the long-dated Treasury fund — it moves strongly with bonds, higher than 67% of US names. On the 9 sessions in which long bonds fell most it moved −1.01% on average, against −0.74% for the S&P 500. The "How it trades on rate days" block on this page carries the lines.

Where has Closelooknet written about Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund?

Materials Select Sector SPDR® Fund appears in 8 Closelooknet pieces, most recently Morning 10: Snowflake jumps 20%, Broadcom stalls, Dell soars 16% — the market is paying for faster growth, not for beats (2026-09-03); Midday 10: Chips up, software down: Nvidia leads a split rebound while the bond market catches its breath (2026-09-02); Daily Pulse: Three Ladders: Gold, Crypto, Materials (2026-08-24). What Closelooknet said most recently: The base rung is the sector fund itself — XLB , heavy in chemicals and industrial gases, the mildest expression there is — and at +6.5% on the month against the S&P's +3.7% it has only just started outperforming. (Daily Pulse, 2026-08-24). The "Mentioned on Closelooknet" block on this page lists the long reads, the reference entries and the dailies that name it.

What does this page show?

A live price chart with SMA overlays and drawing tools for XLB, fund basics and the top holdings by weight with the Closelooknet names among them marked, the technical state where the data exists, and the research diary mentions — an investment research diary view, not investment advice.

Mentioned on Closelooknet 8 pieces · newest: Morning 10, “Snowflake jumps 20%, Broadcom stalls, Dell soars 16% — the market is paying for faster growth, not for beats” (2026-09-03)

Mentioned on Closelooknet

Where XLB appears in the diary — 8 pieces, newest first. Every link is our own writing.

Long reads

  • Software vs Semis — The Axis TurnedWeekly Signal · 23 Aug 2026S&P 500 sector Fund Week 1 month 3 months 2026 Health Care XLV +4.33% +9.0% +17.9% +13.3% Energy XLE +2.79% +8.8% +7.6% +43.3% Materials XLB +1.90% +6.9% +7.0% +18.6% Cons.
  • Software vs Semis — The Tape Split in TwoWeekly Signal · 5 Jul 2026Sector (SPDR) Week Financials (XLF) +3.8% Communications (XLC) +3.2% Discretionary (XLY) +2.4% Health Care (XLV) +2.1% Industrials (XLI) +1.5% Materials (XLB) +0.8% Staples (XLP) +0.3% Technology (XLK) −0.3% Utilities (XLU) −1.0% Energy…
  • Treasuries — Stock Market at a CrossroadsWeekly Signal · 17 May 2026Nine carry Z-scores below −2, with XLY Consumer Discretionary at −3.01, XLRE Real Estate at −3.10, and XLB Materials at −2.45.

Dailies