Friday Sector Laggards: Energy, Utilities

Looking at the sectors faring worst as of midday Friday, shares of Energy companies are underperforming other sectors, showing a 0.4% loss. Within that group, Marathon Oil Corp. (NYSE:MRO) and Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE:DVN) are two of the day's laggards, showing a loss of 2.0% and 1.8%, respectively. Among energy ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLE), which is down 0.3% on the day, and up 46.93% year-to-date. Marathon Oil Corp., meanwhile, is up 109.30% year-to-date, and Devon Energy Corp. is up 90.13% year-to-date. Combined, MRO and DVN make up approximately 3.0% of the underlying holdings of XLE.

The next worst performing sector is the Utilities sector, showing a 0.1% loss. Among large Utilities stocks, AES Corp (NYSE:AES) and FirstEnergy Corp (NYSE:FE) are the most notable, showing a loss of 0.7% and 0.7%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Utilities stocks is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU), which is flat on the day in midday trading, and up 3.43% on a year-to-date basis. AES Corp, meanwhile, is up 12.52% year-to-date, and FirstEnergy Corp is up 24.71% year-to-date. Combined, AES and FE make up approximately 4.2% of the underlying holdings of XLU.

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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 Friday. As you can see, six sectors are up on the day, while three sectors are down.