Looking at the sectors faring best as of midday Wednesday, shares of Energy companies are outperforming other sectors, higher by 2.1%. Within that group, Transocean Ltd. (NYSE: RIG) and Chesapeake Energy Corp. (NYSE: CHK) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 7.9% and 6.3%, respectively. Among energy ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (AMEX: XLE), which is up 1.4% on the day, and up 12.24% year-to-date. Transocean Ltd., meanwhile, is down 19.67% year-to-date, and Chesapeake Energy Corp., is down 4.33% year-to-date. Combined, RIG and CHK make up approximately 0.5% of the underlying holdings of XLE.
The next best performing sector is the Materials sector, up 1.4%. Among large Materials stocks, CF Industries Holdings Inc (NYSE: CF) and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX) are the most notable, showing a gain of 5.8% and 5.0%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB), which is up 1.3% in midday trading, and up 10.31% on a year-to-date basis. CF Industries Holdings Inc, meanwhile, is down 26.98% year-to-date, and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold is up 72.23% year-to-date. Combined, CF and FCX make up approximately 4.3% of the underlying holdings of XLB.
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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 Wednesday. As you can see, eight sectors are up on the day, while one sector is down.
| Sector | % Change |
|---|---|
| Energy | +2.1% |
| Materials | +1.4% |
| Services | +1.0% |
| Financial | +1.0% |
| Technology & Communications | +0.8% |
| Industrial | +0.6% |
| Consumer Products | +0.4% |
| Healthcare | +0.4% |
| Utilities | -0.3% |
