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Wednesday Sector Leaders: Healthcare, Materials

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In afternoon trading on Wednesday, Healthcare stocks are the best performing sector, higher by 0.1%. Within that group, Illumina Inc (NASD: ILMN) and Edwards Lifesciences Corp (NYSE: EW) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 8.0% and 6.5%, respectively. Among healthcare ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (AMEX: XLV), which is up 0.1% on the day, and up 4.68% year-to-date. Illumina Inc, meanwhile, is down 15.53% year-to-date, and Edwards Lifesciences Corp is up 46.09% year-to-date. Combined, ILMN and EW make up approximately 1.6% of the underlying holdings of XLV.

The next best performing sector is the Materials sector, losing just 0.3%. Among large Materials stocks, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. (NASD: GT) and Avery Dennison Corp. (NYSE: AVY) are the most notable, showing a gain of 3.5% and 2.3%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB), which is down 0.4% in midday trading, and up 13.18% on a year-to-date basis. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., meanwhile, is down 11.14% year-to-date, and Avery Dennison Corp. is up 25.90% year-to-date. AVY makes up approximately 1.4% 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, one sector is up on the day, while eight sectors are down.

Sector % Change
Healthcare +0.1%
Materials -0.3%
Financial -0.4%
Consumer Products -0.7%
Technology & Communications -0.8%
Industrial -0.9%
Services -1.0%
Utilities -1.1%
Energy -1.9%