Health Care Sector
XLV · Market Index
Last updated 5:46:12 AM ET
Overview
Health Care Sector (XLV) is a market index tracked. It last traded at 167.37, up 1.02% over the past 24 hours. Trading volume came in at 5,004,454.
- Ticker
- XLV
- Type
- Market Index
Historical Chart
Health Care Sector price chart, 1M range. Current price 167.37. Up 1.02% over the selected range.
No chart data available for this range.
Key Statistics
Technical Indicators
Not available for this asset type.
What Is Health Care Sector?
The Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLV) holds the health care companies within the S&P 500, spanning pharmaceutical manufacturers, biotechnology firms, health insurers, medical-device makers, and health care providers and services companies.
Health care is traditionally considered a more defensive sector than technology or consumer discretionary, since demand for medical care tends to hold up better during economic downturns than demand for discretionary goods — XLV has historically shown somewhat lower volatility than broad-market or tech-heavy funds as a result, though individual sub-industries within it (biotech in particular) can be highly volatile around clinical-trial and regulatory news.
How Health Care Sector Is Priced
Health Care Sector is a market index, not a single tradable security — its value is a weighted average of the prices of the companies or assets it tracks, recalculated continuously as those underlying prices move. Investors can't buy the index directly; exposure typically comes through index funds, ETFs, or futures contracts designed to track it. Because it aggregates many holdings, an index's day-to-day move reflects the combined performance of its constituents rather than any single company's news.