Investors often view gold as a hedge against equity market volatility.
While the broad-market State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSEMKT:SPY) represents the core of many portfolios by tracking the 500 largest U.S. companies, SPDR Gold Shares (NYSEMKT:GLD) offers a low-correlation alternative to equities, providing higher recent returns and lower volatility focuses solely on the price of gold bullion
This comparison examines how these two heavyweights differ in cost, risk, and portfolio role. Snapshot (cost & size) Beta measures price volatility relative to the S&P 500; beta is calculated from five-year monthly returns. The 1-yr return represents total return over the trailing 12 months.
Dividend yield is the trailing-12-month distribution yield. The SPDR trust is the more affordable option, featuring an expense ratio of 0.09% versus 0.4% for GLD. Because the equity fund holds dividend-paying companies, it provides a 1% yield, whereas the gold fund provides no income payout.