Shares inside your ETFs
The 11 stock market sectors and the shares inside your ETFs
Every listed company belongs to one of 11 sectors. The mix of sectors is a big part of why an S&P 500, a FTSE 100 and a world ETF behave so differently. Here’s what each sector covers, with one company from each.
By The Off-Duty Economist Last reviewed Fund data to 13 October 2026
The short version
- Most index providers sort every listed company into one of 11 sectors, using a system called GICS run by MSCI and S&P Dow Jones Indices.
- The sector mix explains a lot about a fund. Technology was 39% of an S&P 500 ETF on 13 October 2026, but about 1% of a FTSE 100 ETF.
- The FTSE 100 leans on financials, consumer staples, industrials and energy. A world ETF holds all 11 sectors.
- We've picked one well-known company from each sector, with a page showing how much of it sits inside the ETFs UK investors can buy.
This is the hub for Shares inside your ETFs: one company page for each sector, linked below. For how one fund holds hundreds of companies, start with what an ETF is.
- 11sectors, split into 25 industry groups, 74 industries and 163 sub-industries
- 39%of an S&P 500 ETF is information technology (iShares, 13 October 2026)
- 26%of a FTSE 100 ETF is financials, its biggest sector
What a sector is
A sector is a group of companies that make their money in similar ways: banks in one, oil producers in another, drug makers in a third. Grouping them like this lets you see what a fund is really exposed to, beyond its long list of company names.
The most widely used system is the Global Industry Classification Standard, or GICS, which MSCI and S&P Dow Jones Indices developed together in 1999. It gives each company a single classification based on its principal business activity, with revenue as a key factor and earnings and market perception also taken into account. It has four levels: 11 sectors, 25 industry groups, 74 industries and 163 sub-industries.
Fund factsheets, index providers and data sites use sectors to describe what a fund holds. They don’t all use GICS, though, which is why the same fund can show different sector names from one site to the next.
The 11 sectors
Here’s what each GICS sector covers, in GICS order, with its share of three popular ETFs on 13 October 2026 and the company we’ve picked for it.
Energy
Companies that explore for, produce, refine, store and transport oil, gas, coal and other fuels, and the firms that supply equipment and services to them.
Examples: Shell, BP and ExxonMobil
Share of each ETF
One company analysed in this sectorShell share price and the ETFs that hold itMaterials
Makers of chemicals, construction materials, glass, paper and packaging, plus metals and mining companies, steelmakers included.
Examples: Rio Tinto, BHP and Linde
Share of each ETF
One company analysed in this sectorRio Tinto share price and the ETFs that hold itIndustrials
Makers and distributors of capital goods such as aircraft engines, defence equipment, machinery and electrical equipment; construction and engineering firms; business services such as consulting and staffing; and transport companies.
Examples: Rolls-Royce, BAE Systems and Caterpillar
Share of each ETF
One company analysed in this sectorRolls-Royce share price and the ETFs that hold itConsumer Discretionary
The things people buy more of when times are good and cut back on when they're not: cars, household durables, clothing, hotels, restaurants and leisure, and shops selling non-essential goods.
Examples: Tesla, Amazon and Next
Share of each ETF
One company analysed in this sectorTesla share price and the ETFs that hold itConsumer Staples
Everyday essentials whose sales tend to hold up in hard times: food, drink, tobacco, household and personal products, and the supermarkets and chemists that sell them.
Examples: Unilever, Tesco and Procter & Gamble
Share of each ETF
One company analysed in this sectorUnilever share price and the ETFs that hold itHealth Care
Drug and biotechnology companies, makers of medical equipment and supplies, and health care providers and services.
Examples: AstraZeneca, GSK and Eli Lilly
Share of each ETF
One company analysed in this sectorAstraZeneca share price and the ETFs that hold itFinancials
Banks, insurers, asset managers, stock exchanges and financial data providers, and, since 2023, payment companies such as Visa and Mastercard.
Examples: HSBC, JPMorgan Chase and Visa
Share of each ETF
One company analysed in this sectorHSBC share price and the ETFs that hold itInformation Technology
Software and IT services, computers, phones and other hardware, and the semiconductors (chips) inside them.
Examples: Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia
Share of each ETF
One company analysed in this sectorApple share price and the ETFs that hold itCommunication Services
Telecoms companies, plus media and entertainment: TV and film, publishing, video games, and online platforms such as search engines and social media.
Examples: Alphabet (Google), Meta and BT
Share of each ETF
One company analysed in this sectorAlphabet share price and the ETFs that hold itUtilities
Electricity, gas and water companies, independent power producers and renewable electricity generators.
Examples: National Grid, SSE and NextEra Energy
Share of each ETF
One company analysed in this sectorNational Grid share price and the ETFs that hold itReal Estate
Companies that own, develop and manage property, including real estate investment trusts (REITs) that own offices, shops, warehouses and homes. REITs that lend money against property rather than own it stay in Financials.
Examples: Landsec, Segro and Prologis
Share of each ETF
One company analysed in this sectorLandsec share price and the ETFs that hold itHow the sector mix differs between funds
Put the three funds side by side and the differences are stark. An S&P 500 ETF is dominated by technology. A FTSE 100 ETF has almost no technology at all, and much more in financials, consumer staples, industrials and energy. A world ETF sits closer to the S&P 500, because US companies make up most of the world’s stock market by value.
Tech is two-fifths of an S&P 500 ETF but about 1% of a FTSE 100 ETF
Each sector's share of three iShares ETFs, 13 October 2026
- S&P 500 (CSPX)
- FTSE 100 (ISF)
- MSCI World (SWDA)
Source: sector exposure of the iShares Core S&P 500, iShares Core FTSE 100 and iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETFs, BlackRock, as of 13 October 2026. GICS sectors; cash left out. Chart: Invest in ETFs.
Show the data
| Sector | S&P 500 (CSPX) | FTSE 100 (ISF) | MSCI World (SWDA) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Information Technology | 39.3% | 1.0% | 31.5% |
| Financials | 11.5% | 26.4% | 15.5% |
| Industrials | 8.0% | 13.5% | 10.6% |
| Health Care | 9.1% | 11.5% | 9.1% |
| Consumer Discretionary | 8.7% | 4.1% | 8.5% |
| Communication Services | 9.9% | 2.1% | 8.2% |
| Consumer Staples | 4.6% | 13.8% | 4.9% |
| Energy | 3.6% | 12.8% | 4.3% |
| Materials | 1.6% | 8.1% | 3.1% |
| Utilities | 2.0% | 4.5% | 2.3% |
| Real Estate | 1.7% | 1.2% | 1.5% |
This is why the choice of index matters so much. A FTSE 100 fund is a bet on a handful of industries as well as on one country, and an S&P 500 fund rises and falls heavily with a few technology companies. Global, FTSE 100 or S&P 500? compares the three, and home bias explains why UK investors often hold more UK shares than the world market does.
Why sector names don't always match
GICS isn’t the only system. FTSE Russell, which runs the FTSE 100, uses its own Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB). It also has 11 top-level groups, but with different names and some different choices:
- ICB calls them industries, and names them Technology, Telecommunications, Health Care, Financials, Real Estate, Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Industrials, Basic Materials, Energy and Utilities.
- ICB puts payment processors in Industrials. GICS puts them in Financials.
- Fund providers can use either system. iShares describes even its FTSE 100 fund using GICS sectors, and labels Communication Services just “Communication”.
Data sites may use their own labels again. justETF, for example, showed the S&P 500 as 45.2% “Technology” on 31 August 2026, against 39.3% “Information Technology” in iShares’ GICS breakdown on 13 October 2026. Different dates account for some of the gap, but the main point is that the two aren’t measuring the same thing. When you compare funds, compare sector figures from the same source.
How the sectors have changed
GICS is reviewed every year, and big companies sometimes move. Recent changes include:
- 2016: Real Estate became its own sector, taken out of Financials, bringing the total to 11.
- 2018: Telecommunication Services was renamed Communication Services and widened. Media companies moved in from Consumer Discretionary, and some companies moved in from Information Technology, including Alphabet and Facebook.
- 2023: Payment processing companies moved from Information Technology to a new sub-industry in Financials, which is why Visa and Mastercard now sit there.
- 2026: MSCI and S&P Dow Jones Indices opened a consultation in July on possible changes, including how to classify AI-related businesses and semiconductors. It closes on 30 October, and any changes will be announced by November 2026.
A reclassification doesn’t change what a company does, but it can change which sector funds hold it and how a fund’s sector breakdown looks.
Sector ETFs
You can buy ETFs that hold just one sector, such as US technology, world health care or world energy. They’re far more concentrated than a broad fund. At the end of August 2026, three companies (Nvidia, Apple and Microsoft) made up 53% of the iShares S&P 500 Information Technology Sector ETF, and its ten biggest holdings made up 75%.
That makes a sector fund a narrower, usually bumpier holding. A world ETF already includes every sector in proportion to its size, which is one reason many investors start there. How many ETFs do you need? looks at how funds overlap.
Common questions
- What are the 11 stock market sectors?
- Under GICS: Energy, Materials, Industrials, Consumer Discretionary, Consumer Staples, Health Care, Financials, Information Technology, Communication Services, Utilities and Real Estate.
- Who decides which sector a company is in?
- For GICS, MSCI and S&P Dow Jones Indices. They classify each company by its principal business activity, with revenue as a key factor. FTSE Russell does the same job for its own ICB system.
- Why isn’t Alphabet in technology funds?
- Since 2018, GICS has put Alphabet in Communication Services, along with other online platforms, telecoms and media companies. So technology-sector ETFs that follow GICS don’t hold it. Alphabet’s page explains more.
- Which sector is the biggest in the FTSE 100?
- Financials: 26.4% of the iShares Core FTSE 100 ETF on 13 October 2026, using GICS sectors.
- Does a world ETF include every sector?
- Yes. The iShares Core MSCI World ETF held all 11 GICS sectors on 13 October 2026, from information technology at 31.5% down to real estate at 1.5%.
Before you rely on this page
Sources
- Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS): overview, MSCI. Structure counts as of 17 March 2023.
- GICS structure and sub-industry definitions and definitions of GICS sectors, MSCI, structure effective 17 March 2023
- S&P Dow Jones Indices and MSCI announcements: Real Estate sector (March 2016), Communication Services (January 2018), 2023 changes (March 2022) and 2026 consultation (July 2026)
- Industry Classification Benchmark (ICB) and ICB taxonomy overview, FTSE Russell (LSEG)
- Sector exposure of the iShares Core S&P 500, iShares Core FTSE 100 and iShares Core MSCI World UCITS ETFs, BlackRock, as of 13 October 2026
- iShares Core S&P 500 and iShares S&P 500 Information Technology Sector UCITS ETF profiles, justETF, holdings and sectors as at 31 August 2026
Sources checked 14 October 2026.