iShares Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Goods Sector Index Fund ETF (IYK)

The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Goods Sector Index Fund ETF (IYK) started trading in late June 2000. As its name suggests, it tracks the Dow Jones US Consumer Goods Sector Index, minus expenses and fees. The ETF's approach to tracking the index is full replication. That is, IYK attempts to own every stock in the index whenever possible.

As of July 2008, the ETF had the following sector breakdown:

Automobiles and Parts 5.65%
Beverages 23.86%
Food 17.26%
Household Products 21.83%
Interest Weighted Securities 0.07%
Leisure Products 4.57%
Personal Products 11.29%
Tobacco 15.41%


The ETF is passively managed, with an expense ratio of 0.48%. The fund's most recent turnover rate was 5%.

Although this is subject to change, the ETF pays a quarterly dividend in March, June, September and December. The dividend is irregular, and past distributions have ranged from $0.03560 a share to $0.37396 a share.

As of July 2008, the iShares Dow Jones U.S. Consumer Goods Sector Index Fund ETF held 145 stocks.

The ETF's holdings are listed below.



Note that while the majority of the ETF's holdings are in the consumer staples category, a significant percentage is not. For example, the ETF holds companies like Ford Motor Co, Electronic Arts, Activision Blizzard, and Coach. None of these should be classified as consumer staples. For a more pure play on the consumer staples sector, consider the Vanguard Consumer Staples ETF.

The inclusion of cyclical stocks in the iShares ETF makes for a diverging performance with Vanguard's ETF, as can be seen from the following two year chart (Vanguard is in red, iShares is in blue: