Thursday Sector Leaders: Technology & Communications, Materials

In afternoon trading on Thursday, Technology & Communications stocks are the best performing sector, up 0.8%. Within that group, Western Digital Corp (Symbol: WDC) and Arista Networks Inc (Symbol: ANET) are two of the day's stand-outs, showing a gain of 6.3% and 4.1%, respectively. Among technology ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLK), which is up 0.7% on the day, and up 43.35% year-to-date. Western Digital Corp, meanwhile, is up 43.94% year-to-date, and Arista Networks Inc is up 61.14% year-to-date. Combined, WDC and ANET make up approximately 0.8% of the underlying holdings of XLK.

The next best performing sector is the Materials sector, up 0.3%. Among large Materials stocks, International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (Symbol: IFF) and Carrier Global Corp (Symbol: CARR) are the most notable, showing a gain of 1.9% and 1.1%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB), which is up 0.1% in midday trading, and up 7.97% on a year-to-date basis. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., meanwhile, is down 31.17% year-to-date, and Carrier Global Corp is up 39.80% year-to-date. IFF makes up approximately 2.0% of the underlying holdings of XLB.

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 Thursday. As you can see, five sectors are up on the day, while four sectors are down.

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