Monday Sector Leaders: Energy, Financial

The best performing sector as of midday Monday is the Energy sector, up 1.7%. Within that group, Halliburton Company (Symbol: HAL) and APA Corp (Symbol: APA) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 4.4% and 4.3%, respectively. Among energy ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLE), which is up 1.9% on the day, and up 11.71% year-to-date. Halliburton Company, meanwhile, is down 1.08% year-to-date, and APA Corp, is down 11.44% year-to-date. Combined, HAL and APA make up approximately 3.0% of the underlying holdings of XLE.

The next best performing sector is the Financial sector, up 1.2%. Among large Financial stocks, Discover Financial Services (Symbol: DFS) and Capital One Financial Corp (Symbol: COF) are the most notable, showing a gain of 4.3% and 4.1%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Financial stocks is the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF), which is up 1.3% in midday trading, and up 15.06% on a year-to-date basis. Discover Financial Services, meanwhile, is up 23.04% year-to-date, and Capital One Financial Corp is up 10.81% year-to-date. Combined, DFS and COF make up approximately 1.5% of the underlying holdings of XLF.

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 Monday. As you can see, five sectors are up on the day, while three sectors are down.

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Also see:

• John Paulson Stock Picks
• Institutional Holders of ARC
• EVTC Average Annual Return

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.