It has been a decent though not awe-inspiring year for the industrial sector. The Industrial Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLI), the largest industrial sector exchange traded fund, is up nearly 10%, trailing the 13% gain for the S&P 500.
That ranks XLI sixth among the nine sector SPDR ETFs. While investors may be left with a “it could have been worse” feeling regarding industrial ETFs, it is worth pointing out that the sector delivered some gems this year, repeating a scenario seen in 2013 when sub-sector aerospace and defense ETFs led industrial offerings. [Aerospace ETFs Prove Reliable]
This year, it has been transportation ETFs delivering for investors, namely the SPDR S&P Transportation ETF (NYSEArca: XTN). XTN leads all non-leveraged industrial sector ETFs with a year-to-date gain of 33.3%.
Proving that the equal-weight methodology works well with sector ETFs, XTN has outpaced its cap-weighted counterpart, the iShares Transportation Average ETF (NYSEArca: IYT), by over 800 basis points this year. [This Year’s Best Materials ETF]
Prior to this year, XTN was, to put it delicately, overlooked compared to IYT. That scenario changed in 2014 as investors have allocated nearly $410 million to the equal-weight XTN. That is $410 million of the ETF’s $556 million in assets under management, making XTN one of the fastest growing industry ETFs on a percentage basis.
One of the main drivers of XTN’s stellar 2014 performance has been its almost 24% weight to airline stocks. That is well ahead of of the 15.8% IYT allocates to airlines, giving XTN room to capitalize with investors looking for airline exposure via ETFs at a time when no airline-specific ETF exists. [Transport Funds Benefit From Lack of Airline ETFs]
Said another way, XTN is an ideal play for the investor looking for a way to profit from lower oil prices without having to short an oil ETF or establish a long position in a volatile inverse or leveraged oil fund. Over the past 90 days, XTN has jumped 15.6% while the United States Oil Fund (NYSEArca: USO) is lower by 41.5%.
Airlines that cut their oil hedges this year are benefiting from falling prices. Jet fuel represents the single largest variable cost in the airline industry. With Saudi Arabia signaling it has no intent to cut production and the U.S. economy continuing to improve, those factors combined with a strong dollar could facilitate further gains for XTN in 2015. As it is, XTN hit an all-time high on Friday and now resides 16.3% above its 200-day moving average.
SPDR S&P Transportation ETF
