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Stock Market Sector Classifications

There are four competing systems for classifying stocks into sectors and industries: the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), the Industrial Classification Benchmark (ICB), The Refinitiv Business Classification (TRBC), and Morningstar's stock sector structure. For the most part, the systems are functionally equivalent, but unfortunately the terminology is different.

ICB Classification System

The Industry Classification Benchmark or ICB, was developed by Dow Jones and FTSE, and is used by the NASDAQ and New York Stock Exchanges. The ICB structure consists of 10 industries, 19 supersectors, 41 sectors and 114 subsectors. So the highest level is an "industry". The ICB system is used by most Dow Jones and FTSE indexes.

The ten industries are:

  • Oil & Gas
  • Basic Materials
  • Industrials
  • Consumer Goods
  • Consumer Services
  • Health care
  • Telecommunications
  • Utilities
  • Financials
  • Technology

GICS Classification System

The Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS) was developed in 1999 by MSCI and Standard & Poor's for use by the global financial community. The GICS structure consists of 11 sectors, 24 industry groups, 68 industries and 157 sub-industries. The highest level is a "sector", unlike with the ICB system, where the highest level is an "industry". GICS is used as a basis for S&P and MSCI financial market indexes. Originally, the GICS system had 10 sectors, but in 2016, real estate was turned into its own sector rather than being part of the financials sector.

The eleven sectors are:

  • Energy
  • Materials
  • Industrials
  • Consumer Staples
  • Consumer Discretionary
  • Health care
  • Communication Services
  • Utilities
  • Financials
  • Information Technology
  • Real estate

Note that prior to September 2018, the "Communication Services" sector of the GICS was named the Telecommunication Services sector. Previously, the Telecommunication Services sector was pretty small. As part of the renaming, the sector was expanded to include companies that facilitate communication and offer related content and information through various media.

The main differences between "industries" with the ICB system and "sectors" with the GICS system are 1) the GICS breaks out real estate as its own sector; and 2) the GICS and ICB systems treat consumer stocks differently. The ICB system classifies consumer stocks between "consumer goods" and "consumer services", whereas the GICS system classifies them as as either "consumer staples" or "consumer discretionary".

The Refinitiv Business Classification

The TRBC classification scheme has a five-level hierarchical structure:

  • 10 Economic sectors
  • 33 Business sectors
  • 62 Industry groups
  • 154 Industries
  • 898 Activities

The ten sectors are:

  • Energy
  • Basic Materials
  • Industrials
  • Consumer Cyclicals
  • Consumer Non-Cyclicals
  • Healthcare
  • Utilities
  • Financials
  • Technology
  • Real estate

Morningstar Stock Sector Structure

The Morningstar stock sector structure consists of 11 sectors (the highest level in their system is also a "sector"). Underneath the 11 sectors, Morningstar uses 150 industries.

The eleven sectors are:

  • Energy
  • Basic Materials
  • Industrials
  • Consumer Cyclicals
  • Consumer Defensive
  • Healthcare
  • Communication Services
  • Utilities
  • Financial Services
  • Technology
  • Real estate

Our sectors

In our website, every stock is classified into one of the 143 industries and then into one of the 11 sectors - see our list of industries.

Sector performance varies

In any given year, the different sectors of the stock market can have significantly different performance. The different sectors also act differently during different economic conditions and cycles. So stock market investors have always paid significant attention to sector performance.

There are a handful of ETFs that attempt to dynamically invest in those sectors of the stock market that are currently performing well. See our discussion of sector rotation ETFs.

S&P 500 sector ETFs

State Street (SPDRs) has a line of ETFs that follow indexes that split the stocks in the S&P 500 into the 11 stock market sectors of the GICS system. These sector ETFs are heavily traded:

NameSymbolLast priceCurrencyAUMExpense ratio, %Inception date
SPDR S&P 500ARCX:SPY597.51USD633,120,180,0000.09Jan 22, 1993
SPDR Select Sector Fund - TechnologyARCX:XLK234.11USD73,478,220,0000.09Dec 16, 1998
SPDR Select Sector Fund - FinancialARCX:XLF50.23USD52,569,700,0000.09Dec 16, 1998
SPDR Select Sector Fund - Health CareARCX:XLV140.09USD39,417,860,0000.09Dec 16, 1998
SPDR Select Sector Fund - Energy Select SectorARCX:XLE93.96USD37,517,220,0000.09Dec 16, 1998
SPDR Select Sector Fund - Consumer DiscretionaryARCX:XLY229.22USD23,753,150,0000.09Dec 16, 1998
SPDR Select Sector Fund - IndustrialARCX:XLI137.75USD22,300,790,0000.09Dec 16, 1998
The Communication Services Select Sector SPDR FundARCX:XLC97.39USD20,522,020,0000.09Jun 18, 2018
SPDR Select Sector Fund - UtilitiesARCX:XLU78.84USD17,896,150,0000.09Dec 16, 1998
SPDR Select Sector Fund - Consumer StaplesARCX:XLP77.24USD16,898,270,0000.09Dec 16, 1998
Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (The)ARCX:XLRE41.08USD7,839,170,0000.09Oct 07, 2015
Materials Select Sector SPDRARCX:XLB88.35USD6,134,390,0000.09Dec 16, 1998

Small cap sector ETFs

Powershares has a line of ETFs that follow indexes that split small cap stocks into the 11 stock market sectors of the GICS system. This list only includes 9 sector ETFs because real estate is included with the financials sector and telecommunications is included with utilities.

NameSymbolLast priceCurrencyAUMExpense ratio, %Inception date
iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETFARCX:IJR117.99USD93,591,154,8910.06May 26, 2000
Invesco S&P SmallCap Information Technology ETFXNAS:PSCT48.55USD328,062,9600.29Apr 07, 2010
Invesco S&P SmallCap Industrials ETFXNAS:PSCI135.31USD229,807,4700.29Apr 07, 2010
Invesco S&P SmallCap Health Care ETFXNAS:PSCH46.20USD192,266,8100.29Apr 07, 2010
Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETFXNAS:PSCE52.51USD108,362,9610.29Apr 07, 2010
Invesco S&P SmallCap Consumer Staples ETFXNAS:PSCC37.41USD55,477,1200.29Apr 07, 2010
Invesco S&P SmallCap Consumer Discretionary ETFXNAS:PSCD108.36USD27,949,4400.29Apr 07, 2010
Invesco S&P SmallCap Financials ETFXNAS:PSCF54.25USD20,202,1200.29Apr 07, 2010
Invesco S&P SmallCap Materials ETFXNAS:PSCM72.34USD19,591,2000.29Apr 07, 2010
Invesco S&P SmallCap Utilities & Communication Services ETFXNAS:PSCU58.42USD18,267,9700.29Apr 07, 2010

Total market sector ETFs

Fidelity has a line of ETFs that follow indexes that split the entire stock market into the 11 stock market sectors of the GICS system. These are based on MSCI's "investable market indexes" or IMI indexes. IMI indexes include large, mid and small cap stocks.

NameSymbolLast priceCurrencyAUMExpense ratio, %Inception date
Fidelity MSCI Information Technology Index ETFARCX:FTEC186.76USD13,263,289,1300.08Oct 24, 2013
Fidelity MSCI Health Care Index ETFARCX:FHLC66.66USD2,602,457,9200.08Oct 24, 2013
Fidelity MSCI Consumer Discretionary Index ETFARCX:FDIS100.00USD2,058,202,8750.08Oct 24, 2013
Fidelity MSCI Financials Index ETFARCX:FNCL71.50USD2,040,867,0000.08Oct 24, 2013
Fidelity MSCI Utilities Index ETFARCX:FUTY50.74USD1,624,759,4000.08Oct 24, 2013
Fidelity MSCI Energy Index ETFARCX:FENY26.16USD1,438,287,7300.08Oct 24, 2013
Fidelity MSCI Communication Services Index ETFARCX:FCOM59.69USD1,370,276,2800.08Oct 24, 2013
Fidelity MSCI Industrials Index ETFARCX:FIDU73.60USD1,267,844,7000.08Oct 24, 2013
Fidelity MSCI COnsumer Staples Index ETFARCX:FSTA48.96USD1,222,825,3450.08Oct 24, 2013
Fidelity MSCI Real Estate Index ETFARCX:FREL27.19USD977,410,3500.08Feb 05, 2015
Fidelity MSCI Materials Index ETFARCX:FMAT50.48USD522,109,8000.08Oct 24, 2013