Looking at the sectors faring best as of midday Thursday, shares of Utilities companies are outperforming other sectors, up 1.8%. Within the sector, Entergy Corp (Symbol: ETR) and Xcel Energy Inc (Symbol: XEL) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 14.8% and 6.9%, respectively. Among utilities ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLU), which is up 1.7% on the day, and up 29.57% year-to-date. Entergy Corp, meanwhile, is up 54.77% year-to-date, and Xcel Energy Inc is up 11.52% year-to-date. Combined, ETR and XEL make up approximately 5.6% of the underlying holdings of XLU.
The next best performing sector is the Energy sector, higher by 0.4%. Among large Energy stocks, ConocoPhillips (Symbol: COP) and Marathon Oil Corp. (Symbol: MRO) are the most notable, showing a gain of 5.8% and 5.7%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Energy stocks is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE), which is up 0.5% in midday trading, and up 8.17% on a year-to-date basis. ConocoPhillips, meanwhile, is down 4.11% year-to-date, and Marathon Oil Corp. is up 15.48% year-to-date. Combined, COP and MRO make up approximately 8.9% of the underlying holdings of XLE.
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, two sectors are up on the day, while seven sectors are down.
| Sector | % Change |
|---|---|
| Utilities | +1.8% |
| Energy | +0.4% |
| Services | -0.2% |
| Materials | -0.5% |
| Consumer Products | -0.6% |
| Financial | -0.8% |
| Healthcare | -0.9% |
| Industrial | -0.9% |
| Technology & Communications | -1.5% |
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
