The best performing sector as of midday Thursday is the Healthcare sector, up 0.3%. Within that group, St Jude Medical Inc (NYSE: STJ) and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASD: VRTX) are two of the day's stand-outs, showing a gain of 27.1% and 5.6%, respectively. Among healthcare ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (AMEX: XLV), which is up 0.3% on the day, and down 0.43% year-to-date. St Jude Medical Inc, meanwhile, is up 28.01% year-to-date, and Vertex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., is down 29.07% year-to-date. Combined, STJ and VRTX make up approximately 1.6% of the underlying holdings of XLV.
The next best performing sector is the Consumer Products sector, up 0.2%. Among large Consumer Products stocks, HanesBrands Inc (NYSE: HBI) and Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc (NYSE: CCE) are the most notable, showing a gain of 7.8% and 4.0%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Consumer Products stocks is the iShares U.S. Consumer Goods ETF (IYK), which is up 0.3% in midday trading, and up 4.26% on a year-to-date basis. HanesBrands Inc, meanwhile, is up 2.14% year-to-date, and Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc is up 10.39% year-to-date. Combined, HBI and CCE make up approximately 1.1% 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 Thursday. As you can see, three sectors are up on the day, while five sectors are down.
| Sector | % Change |
|---|---|
| Healthcare | +0.3% |
| Consumer Products | +0.2% |
| Energy | +0.1% |
| Utilities | -0.0% |
| Services | -0.3% |
| Materials | -0.3% |
| Financial | -0.4% |
| Industrial | -0.4% |
| Technology & Communications | -0.6% |
