Thursday Sector Leaders: Materials, Utilities

The best performing sector as of midday Thursday is the Materials sector, up 1.6%. Within that group, Corteva Inc (Symbol: CTVA) and FMC Corp. (Symbol: FMC) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 18.4% and 8.2%, respectively. Among the high volume ETFs, one ETF closely following materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLB), which is up 1.3% on the day, and down 2.67% year-to-date. Corteva Inc, meanwhile, is up 12.33% year-to-date, and FMC Corp., is down 3.54% year-to-date. Combined, CTVA and FMC make up approximately 4.9% of the underlying holdings of XLB.

The next best performing sector is the Utilities sector, up 1.5%. Among large Utilities stocks, CMS Energy Corp (Symbol: CMS) and Constellation Energy Corp (Symbol: CEG) are the most notable, showing a gain of 2.9% and 2.8%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Utilities stocks is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU), which is up 1.4% in midday trading, and down 1.62% on a year-to-date basis. CMS Energy Corp, meanwhile, is up 1.24% year-to-date, and Constellation Energy Corp is up 7.26% year-to-date. Combined, CMS and CEG make up approximately 6.0% 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:

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, eight sectors are up on the day, while one sector is down.

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