Looking at the sectors faring best as of midday Tuesday, shares of Materials companies are outperforming other sectors, higher by 0.2%. Within that group, Vulcan Materials Co (NYSE: VMC) and Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. (NYSE: MLM) are two of the day's stand-outs, showing a gain of 7.3% and 4.4%, respectively. Among the high volume ETFs, one ETF closely following materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (AMEX: XLB), which is up 0.3% on the day, and down 4.99% year-to-date. Vulcan Materials Co , meanwhile, is up 46.63% year-to-date, and Martin Marietta Materials, Inc. is up 48.87% year-to-date. Combined, VMC and MLM make up approximately 4.3% of the underlying holdings of XLB.
The next best performing sector is the Consumer Products sector, up 0.1%. Among large Consumer Products stocks, Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN) and Kellogg Co (NYSE: K) are the most notable, showing a gain of 4.5% and 2.3%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Consumer Products stocks is the iShares U.S. Consumer Goods ETF (IYK), which is up 0.1% in midday trading, and up 4.55% on a year-to-date basis. Tyson Foods, Inc., meanwhile, is up 4.64% year-to-date, and Kellogg Co is up 4.77% year-to-date. Combined, TSN and K make up approximately 1.4% 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 Tuesday. As you can see, three sectors are up on the day, while six sectors are down.
| Sector | % Change |
|---|---|
| Materials | +0.2% |
| Consumer Products | +0.1% |
| Healthcare | +0.1% |
| Industrial | -0.1% |
| Financial | -0.2% |
| Services | -0.4% |
| Energy | -0.6% |
| Technology & Communications | -0.7% |
| Utilities | -1.6% |
