Tuesday Sector Leaders: Materials, Technology & Communications

In afternoon trading on Tuesday, Materials stocks are the best performing sector, not showing much of a loss. Within that group, Ecolab Inc (Symbol: ECL) and Howmet Aerospace Inc (Symbol: HWM) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 5.2% and 4.1%, respectively. Among the high volume ETFs, one ETF closely following materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLB), which is flat on the day on the day, and up 6.30% year-to-date. Ecolab Inc, meanwhile, is up 5.71% year-to-date, and Howmet Aerospace Inc is up 9.59% year-to-date. ECL makes up approximately 4.1% of the underlying holdings of XLB.

The next best performing sector is the Technology & Communications sector, losing just 0.1%. Among large Technology & Communications stocks, Cadence Design Systems Inc (Symbol: CDNS) and NVIDIA Corp (Symbol: NVDA) are the most notable, showing a gain of 6.5% and 4.6%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Technology & Communications stocks is the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK), which is up 0.1% in midday trading, and up 16.01% on a year-to-date basis. Cadence Design Systems Inc, meanwhile, is up 23.86% year-to-date, and NVIDIA Corp is up 59.16% year-to-date. Combined, CDNS and NVDA make up approximately 6.5% 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:

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

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