Thursday Sector Leaders: Technology & Communications, Services

Looking at the sectors faring best as of midday Thursday, shares of Technology & Communications companies are outperforming other sectors, higher by 2.8%. Within that group, NXP Semiconductors NV (Symbol: NXPI) and Epam Systems, Inc. (Symbol: EPAM) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 5.0% and 4.6%, respectively. Among technology ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLK), which is up 2.8% on the day, and down 27.43% year-to-date. NXP Semiconductors NV, meanwhile, is down 28.59% year-to-date, and Epam Systems, Inc., is down 50.46% year-to-date. Combined, NXPI and EPAM make up approximately 0.8% of the underlying holdings of XLK.

The next best performing sector is the Services sector, higher by 2.2%. Among large Services stocks, Warner Bros Discovery Inc (Symbol: WBD) and Netflix Inc (Symbol: NFLX) are the most notable, showing a gain of 6.4% and 5.1%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Services stocks is the iShares U.S. Consumer Services ETF (IYC), which is up 2.5% in midday trading, and down 31.60% on a year-to-date basis. Warner Bros Discovery Inc, meanwhile, is down 59.92% year-to-date, and Netflix Inc, is down 51.69% year-to-date. Combined, WBD and NFLX make up approximately 3.4% of the underlying holdings of IYC.

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, nine sectors are up on the day, while none of the sectors are down.

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