In afternoon trading on Wednesday, Healthcare stocks are the best performing sector, up 1.1%. Within that group, Nektar Therapeutics (Symbol: NKTR) and Waters Corp. (Symbol: WAT) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 14.0% and 2.7%, respectively. Among healthcare ETFs , one ETF following the sector is the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLV), which is up 0.9% on the day, and up 2.29% year-to-date. Nektar Therapeutics, meanwhile, is up 6.80% year-to-date, and Waters Corp. is up 4.28% year-to-date. Combined, NKTR and WAT make up approximately 0.8% of the underlying holdings of XLV.
The next best performing sector is the Financial sector, higher by 0.9%. Among large Financial stocks, Blackrock Inc (Symbol: BLK) and Regions Financial Corp (Symbol: RF) are the most notable, showing a gain of 3.5% and 3.3%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Financial stocks is the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF ( XLF ), which is up 1.7% in midday trading, and up 0.39% on a year-to-date basis. Blackrock Inc, meanwhile, is up 7.65% year-to-date, and Regions Financial Corp is up 11.92% year-to-date. Combined, BLK and RF make up approximately 2.6% of the underlying holdings of XLF.
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, eight sectors are up on the day, while one sector is down.
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
