Tuesday Sector Laggards: Technology & Communications, Consumer Products

The worst performing sector as of midday Tuesday is the Technology & Communications sector, showing a 0.6% loss. Within that group, Advanced Micro Devices Inc (Symbol: AMD) and Micron Technology Inc. (Symbol: MU) are two of the day's laggards, showing a loss of 3.9% and 3.1%, respectively. Among technology ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLK), which is down 0.9% on the day, and up 4.80% year-to-date. Advanced Micro Devices Inc, meanwhile, is up 15.95% year-to-date, and Micron Technology Inc. is up 1.22% year-to-date. Combined, AMD and MU make up approximately 4.0% of the underlying holdings of XLK.

The next worst performing sector is the Consumer Products sector, higher by 0.1%. Among large Consumer Products stocks, Whirlpool Corp (Symbol: WHR) and Smith (A O) Corp (Symbol: AOS) are the most notable, showing a loss of 5.4% and 3.8%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Consumer Products stocks is the iShares U.S. Consumer Goods ETF (IYK), which is up 0.5% in midday trading, and up 1.25% on a year-to-date basis. Whirlpool Corp, meanwhile, is down 8.45% year-to-date, and Smith (A O) Corp, is down 5.14% year-to-date.

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 Tuesday. As you can see, eight sectors are up on the day, while one sector is down.

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