Looking at the sectors faring best as of midday Wednesday, shares of Utilities companies are outperforming other sectors, up 0.6%. Within the sector, Edison International (NYSE: EIX) and PG&E Corp. (NYSE: PCG) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 2.3% and 2.0%, 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 up 1.40% year-to-date. Edison International, meanwhile, is up 3.81% year-to-date, and PG&E Corp. is up 3.74% year-to-date. Combined, EIX and PCG make up approximately 9.2% of the underlying holdings of XLU.
The next best performing sector is the Services sector, up 0.5%. Among large Services stocks, O'Reilly Automotive, Inc. (NASD: ORLY) and Kohl's Corp. (NYSE: KSS) are the most notable, showing a gain of 4.1% and 3.9%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Services stocks is the iShares U.S. Consumer Services ETF (IYC), which is up 0.5% in midday trading, and up 3.12% on a year-to-date basis. O'Reilly Automotive, Inc., meanwhile, is down 1.95% year-to-date, and Kohl's Corp., is down 17.66% year-to-date. Combined, ORLY and KSS make up approximately 1.1% of the underlying holdings of IYC.
Click here to find out 25 Dividend Giants Widely Held By ETFs »
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, five sectors are up on the day, while one sector is down.
| Sector | % Change |
|---|---|
| Utilities | +0.6% |
| Services | +0.5% |
| Consumer Products | +0.3% |
| Materials | +0.3% |
| Healthcare | +0.1% |
| Technology & Communications | -0.0% |
| Industrial | -0.0% |
| Energy | -0.0% |
| Financial | -0.2% |
