In afternoon trading on Wednesday, Technology & Communications stocks are the best performing sector, up 1.3%. Within that group, Salesforce.com Inc (Symbol: CRM) and Adobe Inc (Symbol: ADBE) are two of the day's stand-outs, showing a gain of 25.7% and 7.9%, respectively. Among technology ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLK), which is up 1.9% on the day, and up 33.60% year-to-date. Salesforce.com Inc, meanwhile, is up 66.97% year-to-date, and Adobe Inc is up 58.46% year-to-date. Combined, CRM and ADBE make up approximately 5.8% of the underlying holdings of XLK.
The next best performing sector is the Materials sector, higher by 0.4%. Among large Materials stocks, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (Symbol: FCX) and International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (Symbol: IFF) are the most notable, showing a gain of 2.9% and 2.1%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB), which is up 1.0% in midday trading, and up 4.08% on a year-to-date basis. Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold, meanwhile, is up 13.76% year-to-date, and International Flavors & Fragrances Inc., is down 1.58% year-to-date. Combined, FCX and IFF make up approximately 5.0% of the underlying holdings of XLB.
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, four sectors are up on the day, while five sectors are down.
| Sector | % Change |
|---|---|
| Technology & Communications | +1.3% |
| Materials | +0.4% |
| Services | +0.2% |
| Industrial | +0.1% |
| Consumer Products | -0.2% |
| Healthcare | -0.3% |
| Financial | -1.1% |
| Utilities | -1.5% |
| Energy | -2.0% |
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
