Tuesday Sector Laggards: Utilities, Energy

Looking at the sectors faring worst as of midday Tuesday, shares of Utilities companies are underperforming other sectors, showing a 1.6% loss. Within that group, NextEra Energy Inc (Symbol: NEE) and AES Corp (Symbol: AES) are two large stocks that are lagging, showing a loss of 3.5% and 3.0%, respectively. Among utilities ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLU), which is down 1.9% on the day, and up 28.07% year-to-date. NextEra Energy Inc, meanwhile, is up 34.19% year-to-date, and AES Corp, is down 11.38% year-to-date. Combined, NEE and AES make up approximately 14.2% of the underlying holdings of XLU.

The next worst performing sector is the Energy sector, showing a 1.3% loss. Among large Energy stocks, Phillips 66 (Symbol: PSX) and Marathon Petroleum Corp. (Symbol: MPC) are the most notable, showing a loss of 4.2% and 3.4%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Energy stocks is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE), which is down 1.4% in midday trading, and up 7.47% on a year-to-date basis. Phillips 66, meanwhile, is down 4.74% year-to-date, and Marathon Petroleum Corp., is down 0.01% year-to-date. Combined, PSX and MPC make up approximately 7.6% 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 Tuesday. As you can see, three sectors are up on the day, while six sectors are down.

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