Thursday Sector Leaders: Utilities, Energy

Looking at the sectors faring best as of midday Thursday, shares of Utilities companies are outperforming other sectors, losing just 0.3%. Within the sector, WEC Energy Group Inc (NYSE:WEC) and CenterPoint Energy, Inc (NYSE:CNP) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 0.5% and 0.5%, respectively. Among utilities ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLU), which is down 0.3% on the day, and up 4.39% year-to-date. WEC Energy Group Inc, meanwhile, is up 1.70% year-to-date, and CenterPoint Energy, Inc is up 17.65% year-to-date. Combined, WEC and CNP make up approximately 4.8% of the underlying holdings of XLU.

The next best performing sector is the Energy sector, losing just 0.4%. Among large Energy stocks, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. (COG) and Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE:DVN) are the most notable, showing a gain of 2.4% and 1.0%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Energy stocks is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE), which is down 0.6% in midday trading, and up 39.26% on a year-to-date basis. Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., meanwhile, is up 8.35% year-to-date, and Devon Energy Corp. is up 79.89% year-to-date. Combined, COG and DVN make up approximately 2.5% of the underlying holdings of XLE.

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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 Thursday. As you can see, none of the sectors are up on the day, while nine sectors are down.