Friday Sector Leaders: Materials, Utilities

In afternoon trading on Friday, Materials stocks are the best performing sector, higher by 0.9%. Within the sector, Albemarle Corp. (Symbol: ALB) and DuPont (Symbol: DD) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 5.5% and 2.2%, respectively. Among the high volume ETFs, one ETF closely following materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLB), which is up 0.8% on the day, and up 12.74% year-to-date. Albemarle Corp., meanwhile, is down 27.70% year-to-date, and DuPont is up 12.41% year-to-date. Combined, ALB and DD make up approximately 5.2% of the underlying holdings of XLB.

The next best performing sector is the Utilities sector, higher by 0.8%. Among large Utilities stocks, PPL Corp (Symbol: PPL) and Edison International (Symbol: EIX) are the most notable, showing a gain of 1.8% and 1.4%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Utilities stocks is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU), which is up 0.7% in midday trading, and down 7.81% on a year-to-date basis. PPL Corp, meanwhile, is down 4.71% year-to-date, and Edison International is up 12.06% year-to-date. Combined, PPL and EIX make up approximately 5.0% 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:

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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, nine sectors are up on the day, while none of the sectors are down.

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