Each Select Sector®—also known as Sector Select®—is a highly-liquid index designed to track a major economic sector. The indices are intended as tools for investment professionals, allowing them to tailor benchmarks for core portfolios by accounting for changing market conditions.


Select Sector Definitions

  • Communication Services

    Includes companies that facilitate communication and offer related content and information through various mediums. It includes telecom and media & entertainment companies including producers of interactive gaming products and companies engaged in content and information creation or distribution through proprietary platforms.

  • Consumer Discretionary

    Encompasses those businesses that tend to be the most sensitive to economic cycles. Its manufacturing segment includes automobiles & components, household durable goods, leisure products and textiles & apparel. The services segment includes hotels, restaurants, and other leisure facilities. It also includes distributors and retailers of consumer discretionary products.

  • Consumer Staples

    Comprises companies whose businesses are less sensitive to economic cycles. It includes manufacturers and distributors of food, beverages and tobacco and producers of non-durable household goods and personal products. It also includes distributors and retailers of consumer staples products including food & drug retailing companies.

  • Energy

    Comprises companies engaged in exploration & production, refining & marketing, and storage & transportation of oil & gas and coal & consumable fuels. It also includes companies that offer oil & gas equipment and services.

  • Financials

    Contains companies engaged in banking, financial services, consumer finance, capital markets and insurance activities. It also includes Financial Exchanges & Data and Mortgage REITs.

  • Health Care

    Includes health care providers & services, companies that manufacture and distribute health care equipment & supplies, and health care technology companies. It also includes companies involved in the research, development, production and marketing of pharmaceuticals and biotechnology products.

  • Industrials

    Includes manufacturers and distributors of capital goods such as aerospace & defense, building products, electrical equipment and machinery and companies that offer construction & engineering services. It also includes providers of commercial & professional services including printing, environmental and facilities services, office services & supplies, security & alarm services, human resource & employment services, research & consulting services. It also includes companies that provide transportation services.

  • Materials

    Includes companies that manufacture chemicals, construction materials, forest products, glass, paper and related packaging products, and metals, minerals and mining companies, including producers of steel.

  • Real Estate

    Contains companies engaged in real estate development and operation. It also includes companies offering real estate related services and Equity Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs).

  • Technology

    Comprises companies that offer software and information technology services, manufacturers and distributors of technology hardware & equipment such as communications equipment, cellular phones, computers & peripherals, electronic equipment and related instruments, and semiconductors and related equipment & materials.

  • Utilities

    Comprises utility companies such as electric, gas and water utilities. It also includes independent power producers & energy traders and companies that engage in generation and distribution of electricity using renewable sources.


Methodology

  • Index Universe

    The indices are subsets of the S&P 500®, which covers approximately 80% of available U.S. market capitalization

  • Index Construction

    Stocks are assigned to Select Sector indices based on their Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS®) sector categorizations.

  • Weighting

    Constituents are weighted by float-adjusted market capitalization, subject to a cap to ensure that no company exceeds 25% on a quarterly basis.


Resources

  • Select Sector Dashboard

    Get monthly performance data and at-a-glance analysis of factor exposures across sectors.

    Download now
  • What’s Inside the Real Estate Select Sector

    Explore how a rules-based approach to tracking real estate companies in the S&P 500® impacts dividend yield and diversification.

    View the video
  • GICS® Structure

    Dive into more granular detail on Select Sector composition.

    Download now

More Information

Explore our full range of U.S. sector indices or contact us to learn about data licensing opportunities.


"Select Sector" is a registered trademark of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC.