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:
| Name | Symbol | Last price | Currency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPD | ARCX:XLY | 228.93 | USD |
| SPDR Energy Select Sector Fund | ARCX:XLE | 84.14 | USD |
| Financial Select Sector SPDR | ARCX:XLF | 48.52 | USD |
| Industrial Select Sector SPDR | ARCX:XLI | 133.82 | USD |
| Materials Select Sector SPDR | ARCX:XLB | 85.63 | USD |
| Communication Services Select Sector SPDR | ARCX:XLC | 98.03 | USD |
| SPDR S&P 500 ETF | ARCX:SPY | 591.97 | USD |
| SPDR S&P Utilities ETF | ARCX:XLU | 76.43 | USD |
| SPDR S&P Consumer Staples Etf | ARCX:XLP | 79.94 | USD |
| SPDR S&P Technology ETF | ARCX:XLK | 236.17 | USD |
| Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund | ARCX:XLRE | 40.79 | USD |
| SPDR S&P Health Care ETF | ARCX:XLV | 138.00 | USD |
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.
| Name | Symbol | Last price | Currency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Invesco S&P SmallCap Materials ETF | XNAS:PSCM | 74.21 | USD |
| Invesco S&P SmallCap Information Tech ET | XNAS:PSCT | 48.55 | USD |
| Invesco S&P SmallCap Financials ETF | XNAS:PSCF | 55.87 | USD |
| Invesco S&P SmallCap Cons Discretionary | XNAS:PSCD | 110.99 | USD |
| Invesco S&P SmallCap Utilities ETF | XNAS:PSCU | 60.06 | USD |
| Invesco S&P SmallCap Energy ETF | XNAS:PSCE | 46.14 | USD |
| Invesco S&P SmallCap Health Care ETF | XNAS:PSCH | 45.19 | USD |
| Invesco S&P SmallCap Industrials ETF | XNAS:PSCI | 135.49 | USD |
| iShares Core S&P Small-Cap ETF | ARCX:IJR | 115.83 | USD |
| Invesco S&P SmallCap Cons Staples ETF | XNAS:PSCC | 38.35 | USD |
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.
| Name | Symbol | Last price | Currency |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fidelity MSCI Comm Services Ind ETF | ARCX:FCOM | 59.30 | USD |
| Fidelity MSCI Industrials Index ETF | ARCX:FIDU | 70.99 | USD |
| Fidelity MSCI COnsumer Staples | ARCX:FSTA | 49.97 | USD |
| Fidelity MSCI Energy Index ETF | ARCX:FENY | 23.17 | USD |
| Fidelity MSCI Materials Index ETF | ARCX:FMAT | 48.66 | USD |
| Fidelity MSCI Financials Index ETF | ARCX:FNCL | 68.83 | USD |
| Fidelity MSCI Utilities Index ETF | ARCX:FUTY | 48.80 | USD |
| Fidelity MSCI Real Estate Index ETF | ARCX:FREL | 26.87 | USD |
| Fidelity MSCI Consumer Discreti | ARCX:FDIS | 99.31 | USD |
| Fidelity MSCI Health Care Index ETF | ARCX:FHLC | 65.41 | USD |
| Fidelity MSCI Information Tech Index ETF | ARCX:FTEC | 187.98 | USD |