Tuesday Sector Leaders: Healthcare, Technology & Communications

In afternoon trading on Tuesday, Healthcare stocks are the best performing sector, up 0.4%. Within that group, Catalent Inc (Symbol: CTLT) and Illumina Inc (Symbol: ILMN) are two of the day's stand-outs, showing a gain of 6.2% and 5.9%, respectively. Among healthcare ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLV), which is up 0.2% on the day, and up 3.09% year-to-date. Catalent Inc, meanwhile, is up 10.27% year-to-date, and Illumina Inc is up 1.63% year-to-date. Combined, CTLT and ILMN make up approximately 0.6% of the underlying holdings of XLV.

The next best performing sector is the Technology & Communications sector, up 0.2%. Among large Technology & Communications stocks, Juniper Networks Inc (Symbol: JNPR) and Palo Alto Networks, Inc (Symbol: PANW) are the most notable, showing a gain of 22.3% and 3.9%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Technology & Communications stocks is the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK), which is up 0.2% in midday trading, and down 1.71% on a year-to-date basis. Juniper Networks Inc, meanwhile, is up 25.36% year-to-date, and Palo Alto Networks, Inc is up 2.02% year-to-date. Combined, JNPR and PANW make up approximately 1.1% of the underlying holdings of XLK.

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, two sectors are up on the day, while seven sectors are down.

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