Looking at the sectors faring best as of midday Thursday, shares of Utilities companies are outperforming other sectors, up 0.7%. Within that group, Southern Company (NYSE: SO) and Exelon Corp. (NYSE: EXC) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 1.9% and 1.7%, respectively. Among utilities ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (AMEX: XLU), which is up 0.7% on the day, and down 6.20% year-to-date. Southern Company , meanwhile, is down 7.46% year-to-date, and Exelon Corp., is down 12.90% year-to-date. Combined, SO and EXC make up approximately 12.5% of the underlying holdings of XLU.
The next best performing sector is the Services sector, up 0.2%. Among large Services stocks, Wynn Resorts Ltd (NASD: WYNN) and Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. (NYSE: KORS) are the most notable, showing a gain of 7.8% and 4.7%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Services stocks is the iShares U.S. Consumer Services ETF (IYC), which is up 0.1% in midday trading, and up 9.22% on a year-to-date basis. Wynn Resorts Ltd, meanwhile, is down 29.06% year-to-date, and Michael Kors Holdings Ltd., is down 44.09% year-to-date. WYNN makes up approximately 0.3% of the underlying holdings of IYC.
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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 Thursday. As you can see, three sectors are up on the day, while six sectors are down.
| Sector | % Change |
|---|---|
| Utilities | +0.7% |
| Services | +0.2% |
| Technology & Communications | +0.2% |
| Consumer Products | -0.1% |
| Healthcare | -0.1% |
| Materials | -0.1% |
| Financial | -0.2% |
| Industrial | -0.3% |
| Energy | -1.5% |
