Wednesday Sector Laggards: Utilities, Consumer Products

In afternoon trading on Wednesday, Utilities stocks are the worst performing sector, showing a 0.4% loss. Within that group, Eversource Energy (Symbol: ES) and FirstEnergy Corp (Symbol: FE) are two large stocks that are lagging, showing a loss of 1.9% and 1.6%, respectively. Among utilities ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLU), which is down 0.4% on the day, and up 13.88% year-to-date. Eversource Energy, meanwhile, is down 0.97% year-to-date, and FirstEnergy Corp is up 10.26% year-to-date. Combined, ES and FE make up approximately 3.8% of the underlying holdings of XLU.

The next worst performing sector is the Consumer Products sector, showing a 0.3% loss. Among large Consumer Products stocks, Brown-Forman Corp (Symbol: BF.B) and Kraft Heinz Co (Symbol: KHC) are the most notable, showing a loss of 6.3% and 3.0%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Consumer Products stocks is the iShares U.S. Consumer Goods ETF (IYK), which is down 0.6% in midday trading, and up 5.17% on a year-to-date basis. Brown-Forman Corp, meanwhile, is down 24.57% year-to-date, and Kraft Heinz Co, is down 5.50% year-to-date. KHC makes up approximately 1.3% of the underlying holdings of IYK.

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 Wednesday. As you can see, five sectors are up on the day, while three sectors are down.

10 ETFs With Stocks That Insiders Are Buying »

Also see:

• Top Ten Hedge Funds Holding PNW
• Funds Holding HESM
• BST Historical Stock Prices

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.