The Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLF) tracks the performance of the S&P 500 financial sector stocks. XLF with an inception date in 1998 currently has $23 billion in total assets and has become one of the largest and most liquid sector-specific exchange traded funds. The group of stocks is diverse between sub-industries, including large and small banks, insurance companies, credit services, capital market services, and asset management companies. As a group, financials typically have a higher sensitivity to changes in interest rates and are overall highly pro-cyclical compared to the rest of