Thursday Sector Leaders: Utilities, Healthcare

In afternoon trading on Thursday, Utilities stocks are the best performing sector, up 1.3%. Within the sector, Entergy Corp (Symbol: ETR) and Southern Company (Symbol: SO) are two of the day’s stand-outs, showing a gain of 3.9% and 3.6%, respectively. Among utilities ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLU), which is up 1.4% on the day, and up 18.28% year-to-date. Entergy Corp, meanwhile, is up 21.36% year-to-date, and Southern Company is up 25.37% year-to-date. Combined, ETR and SO make up approximately 10.6% of the underlying holdings of XLU.

The next best performing sector is the Healthcare sector, higher by 0.2%. Among large Healthcare stocks, Labcorp Holdings Inc (Symbol: LH) and Teleflex Incorporated (Symbol: TFX) are the most notable, showing a gain of 7.4% and 5.3%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Healthcare stocks is the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV), which is up 0.8% in midday trading, and up 11.44% on a year-to-date basis. Labcorp Holdings Inc, meanwhile, is up 2.39% year-to-date, and Teleflex Incorporated, is down 6.40% year-to-date. Combined, LH and TFX make up approximately 0.6% of the underlying holdings of XLV.

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, two sectors are up on the day, while seven sectors are down.

Sector	% Change
Utilities	+1.3%
Healthcare	+0.2%
Consumer Products	-0.5%
Financial	-0.9%
Materials	-1.1%
Services	-2.1%
Industrial	-2.2%
Energy	-2.6%
Technology & Communications	-3.0%