Looking at the sectors faring best as of midday Friday, shares of Utilities companies are outperforming other sectors, losing just 0.5%. Within the sector, Pinnacle West Capital Corp. (NYSE: PNW) and AGL Resources Inc. (NYSE: GAS) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 0.6% and 0.2%, respectively. Among utilities ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (AMEX: XLU), which is down 0.5% on the day, and up 11.50% year-to-date. Pinnacle West Capital Corp., meanwhile, is up 13.59% year-to-date, and AGL Resources Inc. is up 3.99% year-to-date. Combined, PNW and GAS make up approximately 2.7% of the underlying holdings of XLU.
The next best performing sector is the Consumer Products sector, losing just 0.8%. Among large Consumer Products stocks, Monster Beverage Corp (NASD: MNST) and Leggett & Platt, Inc. (NYSE: LEG) are the most notable, showing a gain of 12.6% and 3.2%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Consumer Products stocks is the iShares U.S. Consumer Goods ETF (IYK), which is down 0.6% in midday trading, and up 3.17% on a year-to-date basis. Monster Beverage Corp , meanwhile, is down 3.37% year-to-date, and Leggett & Platt, Inc. is up 17.90% year-to-date. Combined, MNST and LEG make up approximately 1.3% of the underlying holdings of IYK.
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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 Friday. As you can see, none of the sectors are up on the day, while nine sectors are down.
| Sector | % Change |
|---|---|
| Utilities | -0.5% |
| Consumer Products | -0.8% |
| Materials | -1.0% |
| Services | -1.3% |
| Financial | -1.4% |
| Industrial | -1.4% |
| Energy | -1.6% |
| Healthcare | -1.8% |
| Technology & Communications | -2.4% |
