EMLC vs SPY: Performance, Holdings, Fees & Risk

EMLC and SPY are ETFs, but they can differ materially in exposure, yield, fees and risk. EMLC is VanEck J.P. Morgan EM Local Currency Bond ETF, while SPY is State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF. SPY is more concentrated at the top, based on top-10 holdings weight. Current AlgovestIQ evidence has SPY ahead on AIQ Score, 66 versus 54.

Market data as of Oct 21, 2026 market close· Fund characteristics as of Oct 21, 2026
EMLC
VanEck
vs
SPY
SPDR
EMLC
VanEck J.P. Morgan EM Local Currency Bond ETF
Issuer
VanEck
Inception
2010-07-22
SPY
State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF
Issuer
SPDR
Inception
1993-01-22

What is the main difference between EMLC and SPY?

EMLC and SPY have little in common: 0% of their weight is in the same securities.

Expense ratio
EMLC
0.3%
SPY
0.09%
Lower annual fund costSPY
Holdings
EMLC
529
SPY
505
Broader reported basketEMLC
1Y return
EMLC
-2.2%
SPY
+16.4%
Trailing performanceSPY
Annualized volatility
EMLC
7.8%
SPY
12.8%
Lower realized volatilityEMLC
MetricEMLCSPY
Fund
Expense ratio0.3%0.09%
Holdings529505
Top-10 concentration7.2%38.2%
Distribution yieldTrailing 12 months6.4%0.99%
Average volume2,138,90246,698,705
Performance
1Y return-2.2%+16.4%
YTD return-3.3%+12.8%
5Y annualized returnTotal return, distributions reinvested+2.5%+12.6%
Risk
Annualized volatility7.8%12.8%
Max drawdown (1Y)-7.8%-9.1%
Max drawdown (5Y)Total return, distributions reinvested-20.5%-24.5%
Beta0.381.00
Sharpe ratio-0.750.91
Sortino ratio-1.021.39
AlgovestIQ
AIQ Score54/10066/100
AIQ Edge Score5/109/10
Momentum47/10063/100
Risk Resilience88/10088/100

AlgovestIQ AIQ Comparison

VanEck J.P. Morgan EM Local Currency Bond ETF vs State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF

Data as of Oct 21, 2026· market close· Coverage 64/66 fields· High confidence
AIQ VerdictCompetitiveAIQ Comparison Conviction 7/10

SPY leads

SPY leads by 12 AIQ points, primarily on Quality and Momentum, but the lead has narrowed from 18 points over 30 sessions.

Competitive: 3 of 4 evidence groups support SPY, its lead is narrowing, and its current signal state is conflicted.

Evidence agreement: 3 of 4Comparison trend: Weakening
EMLC

VanEck J.P. Morgan EM Local Currency Bond ETF

AIQ Score
54/100
AIQ Edge Score
5/10
SPY

State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF

Leads
AIQ Score
66/100
AIQ Edge Score
9/10

The Algovestiq AIQ Score currently favors SPY over EMLC, 66 versus 54 as of Oct 21, 2026. SPY's advantage is driven primarily by stronger quality and momentum. SPY also shows the stronger technical structure relative to its 50-day moving average. 3 of 4 covered evidence groups favor SPY today, and the comparison is rated Competitive on stability: the leader's advantage has been narrowing. SPY lead: Weakening — the AIQ differential moved from 18 to 12 points over 30 sessions.

Compare VanEck J.P. Morgan EM Local Currency Bond ETF and State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF across performance, expense ratio, dividend yield, drawdown, volatility and the Algovestiq AIQ Score.

EMLC vs SPY: which fits what

Each row is settled by a single measure. Where the gap is too small to matter it reads Similar, and no row decides the comparison as a whole.

If you wantEMLCSPYFits
Lower costExpense ratio0.3%0.09%SPY
Broader diversificationNumber of holdings529505Similar
Lower concentrationWeight of the 10 largest holdings7.2%38.2%EMLC
Higher incomeTrailing 12-month distribution yield6.4%0.99%EMLC
Smaller drawdownsMax drawdown, 5 years-20.5%-24.5%EMLC
Lower volatilityAnnualized volatility, 1 year7.8%12.8%EMLC

Similar means the gap is within 0.01 percentage points of expense ratio, 25% more holdings, 3 points of top-10 weight, 0.2 points of yield, 2 points of drawdown or 1 point of volatility. Past drawdowns and volatility describe the funds’ history, not their future.

Currently unavailable

Performance over time

Total return with distributions reinvested, from daily closes for both ETFs.

EMLC
+13.3%
SPY
+80.5%

Total return comparison

Growth of $10,000, distributions reinvested

EMLC $11,333 · SPY $18,052

Split-adjusted closes; each distribution is reinvested at the close on its ex-dividend date. Taxes and trading costs are not modeled.

Compare EMLC and SPY against another ticker

Open a multi-ticker workspace without changing this focused pair page.

Basic: 2 symbols·Explorer: 3 symbols·Pro and Premium: 5 symbols·Your limit: 2

AIQ Factor Divergence

Where the two separate, on the four dimensions behind the AIQ Score. Bars read outward from a shared zero: further from the centre is a wider gap.

EMLC advantage
0
SPY advantage
  • Quality60 vs 84
    SPY +24
  • Momentum47 vs 63
    SPY +16
  • Value36 vs 41
    SPY +5
  • Risk Resilience88 vs 88
    Even

3 of 4 evidence groups favor SPY. SPY’s edge is concentrated in quality and momentum.

What changed since the last close

Latest scored session 2026-10-20, compared against the prior scored session 2026-10-19.

EMLC0 AIQ

No factor moved materially.

No signal started or stopped since the prior session; its 5 active signals are unchanged.

SPY+4 AIQ

Largest factor move: Momentum +16

New signals

  • Uptrend Structure Active — bullish, trend, long horizon

SPY's lead widened by 4 AIQ points in the latest session.

Deeper signal detail for each name lives on its own signals page — EMLC and SPY both carry a full feed there.

Fund facts, side by side

Two funds tracking overlapping universes are separated by cost and risk far more than by holdings. Those lead here.

MeasureEMLCSPYWhy it matters
Expense ratio0.3%0.09%Lower is better — it compounds against you every year you hold.
Holdings529505More holdings means broader diversification, not better returns.
Average volume2,138,90246,698,705Liquidity — matters most if you trade size.
Annualized volatility7.8%12.8%Lower is a steadier ride for the same exposure.
Max drawdown (1Y)-7.8%-9.1%The worst peak-to-trough loss over the past year.
Sharpe ratio-0.750.91Return per unit of risk. Higher is better.
Beta0.381.00Sensitivity to the broad market. Neither direction is better — it depends on the role in your portfolio.

Where the exposure actually sits

Sector exposure for each fund, ordered by the size of the difference.

Cash & Others100.0% vs 0.0%
Technology0.0% vs 38.4%
Financial Services0.0% vs 11.7%
Communication Services0.0% vs 9.8%
Healthcare0.0% vs 9.6%
Consumer Cyclical0.0% vs 8.8%
Industrials0.0% vs 8.0%
Consumer Defensive0.0% vs 4.7%
EMLCSPY

How much of the same holdings they own

EMLC and SPY share 0% of their weighted exposure across 0 common holdings.

509 holdings are unique to EMLC, and 504 holdings are unique to SPY. Owning both is genuinely additive — most of the capital sits in different securities.

SPY is the more concentrated of the two: its ten largest positions are 38.17% of the fund, against 7.21% for EMLC (505 holdings vs 529). Concentration cuts both ways — it is what drives outperformance when the top names work, and what makes the drawdown deeper when they do not.

What EMLC adds that SPY doesn’t

HoldingEMLCSPY
Brazil Notas Do Tesouro Nacional Serie0.97%Not held
Republic Of South Africa Government Bon0.76%Not held
Mexican Bonos0.75%Not held
Brazil Letras Do Tesouro Nacional0.73%Not held
Mexican Bonos0.71%Not held
Mexican Bonos0.71%Not held

What SPY adds that EMLC doesn’t

HoldingSPYEMLC
NVDANVIDIA CORP8.08%Not held
AAPLAPPLE INC7.33%Not held
MSFTMICROSOFT CORP5.59%Not held
AMZNAMAZON.COM INC3.77%Not held
GOOGLALPHABET INC CL A2.98%Not held
AVGOBROADCOM INC2.61%Not held

Each list is a fund’s largest positions by weight that the other fund does not hold, or holds at less than half the weight.

AIQ Agreement Matrix

3 of 4 covered evidence groups favor SPY. A wide gap backed by one group is a weaker case than a narrow gap backed by five.

Evidence groupFavorsReading
AIQ ScoreSPY54 vs 66
FundamentalsNot coveredNot covered
ValuationSPYValue 36 vs 41
TechnicalsSPYPrice vs 50-day -1.3% vs 0.6%; vs 200-day -2.4% vs 5.9%
Risk ResilienceEvenRisk Resilience 88 vs 88
Analyst expectationsNot coveredNot covered

✓ agrees with the overall verdict · ✕ points the other way. Groups marked “not covered” lack data on one or both of EMLC and SPY and are excluded from the count.

AIQ Decision Stability

Competitive

The two are close enough that your objective, not the score, should decide.

  • The AIQ gap is wide at 12 points. (supports the conclusion holding)
  • The leader's advantage has been narrowing. (argues the conclusion is provisional)
  • The leader is throwing conflicting signals. (argues the conclusion is provisional)

Stability combines the score gap, how broadly the evidence agrees, how steady the lead has been across daily snapshots, the current signal state on both names, and analyst dispersion on SPY.

How the comparison changed

120 daily snapshots · Jun 21 – Oct 20

SPY lead: Weakening — the AIQ differential moved from 18 to 12 points over 30 sessions.

Jun 21EMLC leads above the line · SPY leads belowOct 20
Today
SPY +12
54 vs 66
7 sessions ago
SPY +14
52 vs 66
30 sessions ago
SPY +18
48 vs 66
90 sessions ago
SPY +11
59 vs 70

The lead changed hands 4 times in this window, most recently on Jul 31 when SPY moved ahead of EMLC.

AIQ Signal Divergence

Only the signals that bear on the head-to-head. A conflicted name is carrying bullish and bearish rules at the same time — the technical evidence is not pointing one way.

EMLCConflicted

1 bullish / 3 bearish / 1 neutral, conflicted

Only EMLC

  • Death Cross Active — bearish, trend, long horizon (1.22%)
  • 52-Week Low Proximity — bearish, risk, long horizon (1.9%)
  • Downtrend Structure Active — bearish, trend, long horizon
  • MACD Bullish Crossover — bullish, momentum, short horizon
SPYConflicted

4 bullish / 1 bearish / 1 neutral, conflicted

Only SPY

  • Golden Cross Active — bullish, trend, long horizon (5.84%)
  • EMA Ribbon Expansion Bullish — bullish, trend, medium horizon
  • 52-Week High Proximity — bullish, risk, long horizon (1.2%)
  • Uptrend Structure Active — bullish, trend, long horizon
  • MACD Bearish Crossover — bearish, momentum, short horizon

Both carry 1 more signal that do not separate them: ATR Contraction - Coiling.

SPY leads the comparison while carrying a conflicted signal state, which is one reason the stability rating is not higher.

Price vs model alignment

Whether the latest session's price move confirms what the model did over the same session, or contradicts it.

EMLCNo material change

Neither the price nor the AIQ Score moved enough in the latest session to confirm or contradict the other (price -0.12%, AIQ 0 points).

SPYConfirmed strength

Price and the AIQ Score both moved up over the latest session (price +0.53%, AIQ +4 points).

What would flip this result

A state, not a forecast. These are the specific, observable changes that would reverse the verdict — not a price prediction.

  1. 1EMLC closes the Quality gap — currently 24 points behind, the largest single contributor to SPY's edge.
  2. 2EMLC's Death Cross Active resolves — a bearish trend rule currently active against it.
  3. 3SPY's conflicting signal state resolves bearish — it currently carries 4 bullish and 1 bearish rules at once.
  4. 4The narrowing continues — the lead has already given back 6 points over 30 sessions, and a further 12-point move would eliminate SPY's advantage entirely.

The full evidence

Every number behind the verdict. The leader is called above each group so you are not left to solve it from the table.

Performance

SPY leads 5 of 6 windows
MetricEMLCSPY
1 week (5 sessions)0.2%-1.2%
1 month (20 sessions)-1.5%-0.6%
3 months (63 sessions)-1.5%2.9%
6 months (126 sessions)-3.5%9.2%
Year to date-3.3%12.8%
1 year (252 sessions)-2.2%16.4%

Technicals

SPY has the stronger structure
MetricEMLCSPY
RSI (14)55.756.2
ADX (14)29.712.5
Price vs 50-day-1.3%0.6%
Price vs 200-day-2.4%5.9%
Volatility (1M, annualized)8%9%

Risk

Split
MetricEMLCSPY
Beta0.381
Sharpe ratio-0.750.91
Sortino ratio-1.021.39
Max drawdown-7.8%-9.1%
Current drawdown-6.1%-1.3%
Annualized volatility7.8%12.8%
Value at risk (95%)-0.8%-1.4%

Straight answers

Short answers to the questions fund investors ask about this pair, from the figures above.

What is the difference between EMLC and SPY?

EMLC and SPY have little in common: 0% of their weight is in the same securities.

How much do EMLC and SPY overlap?

EMLC and SPY share 0% of their weighted exposure across 0 common holdings. 509 holdings are unique to EMLC, and 504 holdings are unique to SPY. Owning both is genuinely additive — most of the capital sits in different securities.

Which ETF is more diversified, EMLC or SPY?

They hold a similar number of positions: 529 for EMLC and 505 for SPY.

Which has the lower expense ratio?

SPY has the lower expense ratio, 0.09% a year against 0.3% for EMLC.

Which ETF has the higher distribution yield?

EMLC, with a trailing 12-month distribution yield of 6.4% against 0.99% for SPY.

Which ETF has been more volatile?

SPY has been more volatile over the past year, at 12.8% annualized against 7.8% for EMLC.

Which ETF has had the smaller drawdown?

EMLC fell less from peak to trough over the past five years: -20.5% against -24.5% for SPY.

Compare EMLC and SPY with others

Continue your research

This page answers which of the two. These answer the questions on either side of it.

How this comparison is scored

The Algovestiq AIQ Score composites four factors — Quality, Value, Momentum and Risk, each carrying a fixed weight. Sentiment is reported separately as SentimentPulse and is not folded into the composite. Scores refresh every trading day, and this page regenerates from the latest snapshot rather than being written once.

The verdict names a leader, states how broadly six independent evidence groups agree, and rates how durable that conclusion is given the score gap, its recent trajectory and the current signal state on both names.

How to use side-by-side comparison →

This comparison is informational and educational, not investment advice. AIQ scores update daily; re-check after earnings, guidance or macro data that materially changes either name’s factor profile.