Wednesday Sector Leaders: Technology & Communications, Utilities

In afternoon trading on Wednesday, Technology & Communications stocks are the best performing sector, higher by 2.0%. Within the sector, Dayforce Inc (Symbol: DAY) and NVIDIA Corp (Symbol: NVDA) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 12.5% and 10.6%, respectively. Among technology ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLK), which is up 3.5% on the day, and up 13.20% year-to-date. Dayforce Inc, meanwhile, is down 10.03% year-to-date, and NVIDIA Corp is up 131.79% year-to-date. NVDA makes up approximately 20.1% of the underlying holdings of XLK.

The next best performing sector is the Utilities sector, up 1.1%. Among large Utilities stocks, Vistra Corp (Symbol: VST) and Constellation Energy Corp (Symbol: CEG) are the most notable, showing a gain of 15.4% and 11.6%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Utilities stocks is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU), which is up 1.3% in midday trading, and up 16.63% on a year-to-date basis. Vistra Corp, meanwhile, is up 107.90% year-to-date, and Constellation Energy Corp is up 61.70% year-to-date. Combined, VST and CEG make up approximately 7.9% of the underlying holdings of XLU.

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.

25 Dividend Giants Widely Held By ETFs »

Also see:

• Institutional Holders of EHTH
• Funds Holding MW
• NWBI Split History

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