Obviously, ETFs have not been trading in the U.S. since 1989 and the sector SPDRs did not debut until December 1998. That means 2013 marks the fifteenth full year in which there is data available for the nine SPDRs.
Since January 1999, five SPDRs have more than doubled and that is to be precise and exclude the Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLP), which is up 99.2%, from that list.
Not surprisingly, the two worst SPDRs since the ETFs debuted are the Financial Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLF) and XLK, which are up 9.6% an 17.3%, since January 1999, respectively. [SPDRs Still Flourishing]
Perhaps XLK deserves a pass because the timing of its debut, in hindsight, looks dreadful. The ETF didn’t even get two of years of trading under its belt before the tech bubble burst. XLF would later suffer at the hands of housing/credit bubble.
The best SPDR dating back to January 1999 is, and the race is not even close, XLE
Nine SPDRs Since January 1999
