Wednesday Sector Leaders: Energy, Materials

Looking at the sectors faring best as of midday Wednesday, shares of Energy companies are outperforming other sectors, higher by 2.1%. Within the sector, APA Corp (Symbol: APA) and Devon Energy Corp. (Symbol: DVN) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 5.0% and 4.6%, respectively. Among energy ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLE), which is up 2.8% on the day, and up 8.03% year-to-date. APA Corp, meanwhile, is up 10.45% year-to-date, and Devon Energy Corp. is up 5.16% year-to-date. Combined, APA and DVN make up approximately 2.3% of the underlying holdings of XLE.

The next best performing sector is the Materials sector, higher by 1.3%. Among large Materials stocks, LyondellBasell Industries NV (Symbol: LYB) and Mosaic Co (Symbol: MOS) are the most notable, showing a gain of 7.6% and 7.3%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB), which is up 0.4% in midday trading, and up 7.92% on a year-to-date basis. LyondellBasell Industries NV, meanwhile, is up 20.99% year-to-date, and Mosaic Co is up 16.79% year-to-date. Combined, LYB and MOS make up approximately 3.0% 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, six sectors are up on the day, while three sectors are down.

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Also see:

• Railroads Dividend Stocks
• Funds Holding STRT
• Institutional Holders of TOUS