Wednesday Sector Laggards: Energy, Healthcare

Looking at the sectors faring worst as of midday Wednesday, shares of Energy companies are underperforming other sectors, showing a 2.3% loss. Within the sector, Devon Energy Corp. (Symbol: DVN) and Occidental Petroleum Corp (Symbol: OXY) are two of the day's laggards, showing a loss of 11.6% and 4.9%, respectively. Among energy ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLE), which is down 1.9% on the day, and up 4.67% year-to-date. Devon Energy Corp., meanwhile, is down 2.70% year-to-date, and Occidental Petroleum Corp is up 3.32% year-to-date. Combined, DVN and OXY make up approximately 5.8% of the underlying holdings of XLE.

The next worst performing sector is the Healthcare sector, showing a 0.1% loss. Among large Healthcare stocks, Biogen Inc (Symbol: BIIB) and Eli Lilly (Symbol: LLY) are the most notable, showing a loss of 3.7% and 2.7%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Healthcare stocks is the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV), which is down 0.4% in midday trading, and down 2.37% on a year-to-date basis. Biogen Inc, meanwhile, is up 2.07% year-to-date, and Eli Lilly, is down 7.04% year-to-date. Combined, BIIB and LLY make up approximately 6.2% of the underlying holdings of XLV.

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

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