Friday Sector Leaders: Services, Utilities

In afternoon trading on Friday, Services stocks are the best performing sector, up 0.4%. Within that group, Kroger Co (Symbol: KR) and Carmax Inc. (Symbol: KMX) are two of the day's stand-outs, showing a gain of 8.8% and 6.4%, respectively. Among the largest ETFs, one ETF closely following services stocks is the iShares U.S. Consumer Services ETF (Symbol: IYC), which is down 0.1% on the day, and down 0.29% year-to-date. Kroger Co, meanwhile, is up 17.60% year-to-date, and Carmax Inc., is down 16.32% year-to-date. KMX makes up approximately 0.2% of the underlying holdings of IYC.

The next best performing sector is the Utilities sector, up 0.3%. Among large Utilities stocks, Vistra Corp (Symbol: VST) and NextEra Energy Inc (Symbol: NEE) are the most notable, showing a gain of 1.9% and 1.0%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Utilities stocks is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU), which is up 0.5% in midday trading, and up 7.64% on a year-to-date basis. Vistra Corp, meanwhile, is up 34.16% year-to-date, and NextEra Energy Inc is up 2.37% year-to-date. Combined, VST and NEE make up approximately 17.1% of the underlying holdings of XLU.

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 three sectors are down.

25 Dividend Giants Widely Held By ETFs »

Also see:

• Contrarian Outlook
• SOV Historical Stock Prices
• UWC Split History