Wednesday Sector Leaders: Materials, Technology & Communications

The best performing sector as of midday Wednesday is the Materials sector, up 1.1%. Within the sector, Albemarle Corp. (Symbol: ALB) and Newmont Corp (Symbol: NEM) are two of the day's stand-outs, showing a gain of 6.9% and 4.0%, respectively. Among the high volume ETFs, one ETF closely following materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLB), which is up 1.0% on the day, and up 3.86% year-to-date. Albemarle Corp., meanwhile, is down 32.48% year-to-date, and Newmont Corp is up 11.50% year-to-date. Combined, ALB and NEM make up approximately 6.0% of the underlying holdings of XLB.

The next best performing sector is the Technology & Communications sector, higher by 0.7%. Among large Technology & Communications stocks, Micron Technology Inc. (Symbol: MU) and ON Semiconductor Corp (Symbol: ON) are the most notable, showing a gain of 3.6% and 3.6%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Technology & Communications stocks is the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK), which is up 1.1% in midday trading, and up 23.41% on a year-to-date basis. Micron Technology Inc., meanwhile, is up 59.59% year-to-date, and ON Semiconductor Corp, is down 8.90% year-to-date. Combined, MU and ON make up approximately 1.8% of the underlying holdings of XLK.

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, nine sectors are up on the day, while none of the sectors are down.

10 ETFs With Stocks That Insiders Are Buying »

Also see:

• Stocks Being Bought By Hedge Funds
• EPOL Dividend History
• Funds Holding BNNY

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