Friday Sector Leaders: Utilities, Healthcare

Looking at the sectors faring best as of midday Friday, shares of Utilities companies are outperforming other sectors, up 1.9%. Within that group, AES Corp. (Symbol: AES) and Public Service Enterprise Group Inc (Symbol: PEG) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 3.9% and 3.3%, respectively. Among utilities ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLU), which is up 2.1% on the day, and down 5.52% year-to-date. AES Corp., meanwhile, is down 20.85% year-to-date, and Public Service Enterprise Group Inc, is down 5.79% year-to-date. Combined, AES and PEG make up approximately 4.8% of the underlying holdings of XLU.

The next best performing sector is the Healthcare sector, up 1.8%. Among large Healthcare stocks, Intuitive Surgical Inc (Symbol: ISRG) and Align Technology Inc (Symbol: ALGN) are the most notable, showing a gain of 7.2% and 4.2%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Healthcare stocks is the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV), which is up 1.5% in midday trading, and up 4.85% on a year-to-date basis. Intuitive Surgical Inc, meanwhile, is up 9.54% year-to-date, and Align Technology Inc is up 15.35% year-to-date. Combined, ISRG and ALGN make up approximately 2.4% 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, five sectors are up on the day, while four sectors are down.

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