Looking at the sectors faring best as of midday Friday, shares of Services companies are outperforming other sectors, up 0.9%. Within that group, Discovery Inc (Symbol: DISCA) and Discovery Inc - Series C (Symbol: DISCK) are two of the day's stand-outs, showing a gain of 6.3% and 6.2%, respectively. Among the largest ETFs, one ETF closely following services stocks is the iShares U.S. Consumer Services ETF (Symbol: IYC), which is up 0.4% on the day, and down 14.26% year-to-date. Discovery Inc, meanwhile, is up 13.95% year-to-date, and Discovery Inc - Series C is up 14.74% year-to-date. Combined, DISCA and DISCK make up approximately 0.2% of the underlying holdings of IYC.
The next best performing sector is the Healthcare sector, up 0.7%. Among large Healthcare stocks, DexCom Inc (Symbol: DXCM) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Symbol: VRTX) are the most notable, showing a gain of 5.9% and 4.7%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Healthcare stocks is the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV), which is up 0.7% in midday trading, and down 8.57% on a year-to-date basis. DexCom Inc, meanwhile, is down 24.37% year-to-date, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is up 8.84% year-to-date. Combined, DXCM and VRTX make up approximately 2.0% of the underlying holdings of XLV.
Comparing these stocks and ETFs on a trailing twelve month basis, below is a relative stock price performance chart, with each of the symbols shown in a different color as labeled in the legend at the bottom:
Here's a snapshot of how the S&P 500 components within the various sectors are faring in afternoon trading on Friday. As you can see, four sectors are up on the day, while five sectors are down.
| Sector | % Change |
|---|---|
| Services | +0.9% |
| Healthcare | +0.7% |
| Utilities | +0.5% |
| Technology & Communications | +0.5% |
| Industrial | -0.1% |
| Financial | -0.2% |
| Consumer Products | -0.5% |
| Materials | -0.6% |
| Energy | -1.1% |
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
