Tuesday Sector Leaders: Technology & Communications, Utilities

In afternoon trading on Tuesday, Technology & Communications stocks are the best performing sector, up 0.2%. Within the sector, Applied Materials, Inc. (Symbol: AMAT) and Micron Technology Inc. (Symbol: MU) are two of the day's stand-outs, showing a gain of 3.8% and 3.5%, respectively. Among technology ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLK), which is up 0.9% on the day, and up 3.05% year-to-date. Applied Materials, Inc., meanwhile, is up 38.41% year-to-date, and Micron Technology Inc. is up 22.32% year-to-date. Combined, AMAT and MU make up approximately 2.4% of the underlying holdings of XLK.

The next best performing sector is the Utilities sector, not showing much of a loss. Among large Utilities stocks, American Electric Power Co Inc (Symbol: AEP) and FirstEnergy Corp (Symbol: FE) are the most notable, showing a gain of 1.3% and 1.1%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Utilities stocks is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU), which is up 0.1% in midday trading, and up 0.93% on a year-to-date basis. American Electric Power Co Inc, meanwhile, is up 1.01% year-to-date, and FirstEnergy Corp is up 17.69% year-to-date. Combined, AEP and FE make up approximately 6.7% 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 Tuesday. As you can see, one sector is up on the day, while seven sectors are down.

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