Thursday Sector Leaders: Utilities, Consumer Products

In afternoon trading on Thursday, Utilities stocks are the best performing sector, higher by 0.7%. Within the sector, AES Corp (Symbol: AES) and NextEra Energy Inc (Symbol: NEE) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 3.1% and 2.5%, respectively. Among utilities ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLU), which is up 0.7% on the day, and up 7.83% year-to-date. AES Corp, meanwhile, is down 19.56% year-to-date, and NextEra Energy Inc, is down 3.16% year-to-date. Combined, AES and NEE make up approximately 11.9% of the underlying holdings of XLU.

The next best performing sector is the Consumer Products sector, up 0.5%. Among large Consumer Products stocks, Estee Lauder Cos., Inc. (Symbol: EL) and Hershey Company (Symbol: HSY) are the most notable, showing a gain of 3.6% and 3.3%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Consumer Products stocks is the iShares U.S. Consumer Goods ETF (IYK), which is up 0.3% in midday trading, and up 8.79% on a year-to-date basis. Estee Lauder Cos., Inc., meanwhile, is down 7.95% year-to-date, and Hershey Company, is down 3.27% year-to-date. HSY makes up approximately 1.0% of the underlying holdings of IYK.

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 Thursday. As you can see, six sectors are up on the day, while two sectors are down.

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Also see:

• FNF Stock Predictions
• WETG market cap history
• Copart Historical Earnings

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