# Trending Sector ETFs
**Query:** Trending sectors
**Data as of:** 2026-10-12

17 US-listed sector and industry ETFs are trading in an established uptrend and/or above their 150-day SMA. Energy (XLE, XOP) and Technology/Semis (XLK, SMH) lead on 1-year returns, joined by Healthcare/Biotech (XLV, XBI, IBB), Software (IGV, XSW) and Materials (IYM). Ranked by 1-year performance; heatmap sizes blocks by AUM.

### Sector & Industry ETFs in Uptrends — Ranked by 1-Year Return

| Symbol | ETF Name | Sector / Theme | ETF Type | 1M Return | 3M Return | 6M Return | 1Y Return | % from 150D SMA | % from 52W High | Rel. Volume | Technical Pattern | Trend Status | AUM ($B) | Comments |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| SMH | VanEck Semiconductor ETF | Semiconductors | theme | 3.95% | -1.55% | 33.30% | 71.73% | 8.56% | -11.65% | 0.767 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 67.8 | Semis sit at the fault line of the AI trade: the group carries the market's highest beta and still-strong demand for compute, but the marginal narrative has shifted toward cheaper in-house silicon. Watch the equipment and optics names inside the ETF for the sharpest swings — this is the highest-conviction, highest-volatility way to express AI capex. |
| XLE | State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF | Energy | sector | 1.94% | 16.60% | 17.11% | 54.72% | 12.42% | 0.00% | 0.6628 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 38.7 | The purest macro-inflation expression in the screen. Energy's leadership pairs a commodity tailwind (WTI near cycle highs) with the cheapest valuation anchors in the S&P, which makes it a natural haven when rate-sensitive cyclicals wobble. Integrated majors and midstream are the steadier core; E&P offers the torque. |
| XOP | State Street SPDR S&P Oil & Gas Exploration & Production ETF | Oil & Gas Exploration & Production | theme | -0.33% | 17.62% | 16.20% | 51.33% | 12.34% | -2.71% | 0.5895 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 3.4 | Smaller and more levered to crude price swings than XLE — a high-torque bet on sustained oil prices. Capital-discipline among shale drillers has kept supply in check, supporting cash returns, but the group re-rates fast if crude rolls over. |
| XBI | State Street SPDR S&P Biotech ETF | Biotech | theme | -3.07% | -2.61% | 14.77% | 42.74% | 4.83% | -10.70% | 0.7025 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 8.4 | Equal-weighted and skewed to pre-revenue, cash-burning biotech, so it is acutely sensitive to funding conditions. Its uptrend is running into a market that is increasingly rewarding nearer-term profitability — a barbell of binary catalyst risk. |
| XLK | State Street Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF | Technology | sector | 4.75% | 7.06% | 35.17% | 36.02% | 12.69% | -2.79% | 0.7036 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 124.5 | The largest sector ETF and the broadest AI proxy, now driven more by mega-cap platform owners monetizing compute than by the hardware supply chain. Concentrated leadership means index-level resilience can mask weakness in the smaller components. |
| IBB | iShares Biotechnology ETF | Biotechnology | theme | 0.66% | 8.27% | 18.65% | 34.61% | 10.30% | -5.85% | 0.7277 | Upward channel (4%) | Uptrend + >150D | 7.9 | Cap-weighted and dominated by large-cap biopharma with real revenue, making it the more defensive way to play biology versus XBI. Pairs diversification and dividend support with exposure to the obesity and immunology drug cycles. |
| IYZ | iShares U.S. Telecommunications ETF | Telecommunications | sector | -3.01% | 0.98% | 2.15% | 28.82% | 0.02% | -9.08% | 0.722 | Above 150D SMA | >150D SMA | 1.1 | A narrow, carrier-heavy telecom book where the uptrend is less about business fundamentals than income-stock positioning. Rate sensitivity is the key risk — higher long yields pressure this group more than its trend flag suggests. |
| GXPT | Global X PureCap MSCI Information Technology ETF | Information Technology | sector | 4.54% | 8.90% | 31.90% | 27.85% | 12.77% | -2.53% | 0.2791 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 0.1 | A small, newer zero-overlap take on tech that tilts away from mega-cap concentration. Its trend and percentile ranking track XLK closely, so treat it as a purer, less familiar way to express the same AI-platform theme. |
| IYM | iShares U.S. Basic Materials ETF | Basic Materials | sector | -2.20% | 2.63% | -1.50% | 23.95% | 0.25% | -7.42% | 0.3833 | Above 150D SMA | >150D SMA | 1.4 | Materials sits in the uptrend mostly on the strength of its mining and precious-metals components rather than broad chemical demand. It is a genuine commodity-inflation hedge, but the industrial side of the book remains a drag. |
| XLV | State Street Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF | Health Care | sector | 4.41% | 9.07% | 17.19% | 21.27% | 9.92% | -2.10% | 0.7021 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 38.2 | Healthcare has become the market's defensive rotation destination: low volatility, improving margins, and positive absolute returns while most rate-sensitive cyclicals sell off. Favorable demographic and drug-cycle backdrops give the trend staying power. |
| IYH | iShares U.S. Healthcare ETF | Healthcare | sector | 4.04% | 9.00% | 17.21% | 20.60% | 9.84% | -2.39% | 3.1714 | Upward channel (17%) | Uptrend + >150D | 3.1 | Near-twin to XLV with a slightly different weighting; the wide relative-volume reading signals it saw heavier-than-usual interest as money rotated into defensive healthcare. Composition differences versus XLV drive the small divergence. |
| GDX | VanEck Gold Miners ETF | Gold Miners | theme | -8.83% | 18.23% | -10.38% | 17.94% | 0.56% | -23.58% | 0.4652 | Above 150D SMA | >150D SMA | 27.1 | Gold miners carry the dual beta of bullion prices and equity leverage to them. The recent pullback reflects profit-taking on a crowded trade, but the structural case — real-asset hedge bundled with capital returns — keeps the longer trend intact. |
| XLP | State Street Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR ETF | Consumer Staples | sector | 1.90% | 1.85% | 4.91% | 11.13% | 1.71% | -6.22% | 0.709 | Above 150D SMA | >150D SMA | 14.9 | The one sector that combines low volatility, improving margins and pricing power — the classic late-cycle ballast. Its uptrend is defensive rather than growth-driven, so it tends to lead precisely when cyclical cyclicals are under pressure. |
| XLF | State Street Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF | Financials | sector | -3.50% | -1.66% | 7.31% | 4.87% | 2.85% | -5.99% | 0.6017 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 49.4 | Financials have lagged despite holding above their trend support, reflecting the market re-pricing the rate and credit backdrop. Regional banks are the swing factor; the worst of the curve repricing may be behind the group, but cheapness alone hasn't been enough. |
| XSW | State Street SPDR S&P Software & Services ETF | Software & Services | theme | 4.08% | 14.01% | 43.33% | 0.71% | 16.87% | -3.33% | 0.408 | Upward channel (23%) | Uptrend + >150D | 0.4 | Equal-weighted software, so it captures the broadening AI-monetization trade with less mega-cap distortion than IGV. A high-beta, high-multiple group whose trend depends on earnings delivery rather than the macro. |
| IGV | iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF | Software | theme | 9.61% | 18.85% | 41.42% | -3.78% | 18.13% | -4.95% | 0.4526 | Uptrend | Uptrend + >150D | 16.7 | Software has been the cleanest beneficiary of the shift in AI narrative from hardware supply chain to platform monetization. Note the trailing return figure is distorted by fund distribution mechanics — the near-term trend and business momentum are what matter. Cybersecurity and cloud names inside are the durable tailwinds. |
| IHI | iShares U.S. Medical Devices ETF | Medical Devices | theme | 3.92% | 7.42% | -1.79% | -11.66% | 1.57% | -18.12% | 0.5766 | Above 150D SMA | >150D SMA | 3 | Medtech is the quiet defensive winner — benefiting from procedure volumes and recent rotation into low-volatility healthcare while long-duration biotech goes through a funding squeeze. |

### Sector & Industry ETF Heatmap — Block Size = AUM

_[heatmap: Sector & Industry ETF Heatmap — Block Size = AUM]_

### Leading Sectors

**What's leading, and why.** Three distinct engines are driving the sector leadership right now.

**1. Energy (XLE, XOP) is the cleanest macro trade.** WTI crude near cycle highs has handed integrated majors and E&P names cash flow at cycle peaks and some of the cheapest valuations in the market. It leans against rate-sensitive cyclicals, so it is both a momentum and a defensive expression.

**2. Technology is bifurcating.** The AI theme has rotated away from the capex supply chain (optics, memory, semicap) toward the platform owners monetizing compute — which is why **Software (IGV, XSW)** and broad **Technology (XLK)** hold their trends while Semiconductors (SMH, still up sharply over a year) wobble on the cheaper-silicon narrative.

**3. Healthcare (XLV, IYH, XBI, IBB, IHI) is the defensive rotation destination.** Positive absolute returns, improving margins and low volatility are pulling money out of both rate-sensitive cyclicals and the AI-hardware trade. Medtech and large-cap biopharma are the steadier core; small-cap biotech is the higher-beta satellite.

**What's lagging.** Utilities, Consumer Discretionary, Communication Services, Materials-proper, Real Estate and Industrials sit below their 150-day averages — the classic signature of a late-cycle market punishing rate-sensitive, capital-intensive and funding-dependent groups. Solar, uranium, homebuilders and China internet are in outright downtrends.

The broad takeaway: breadth is flat and dispersion is extreme, so this is a stock-picker's tape, not a beta trade. Capital is concentrating in cash-generative, nearer-term-earnings names (energy, software, medtech/staples) and away from narrative-driven, capital-hungry stories.

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