Tuesday Sector Leaders: Utilities, Healthcare

The best performing sector as of midday Tuesday is the Utilities sector, losing just 0.6%. Within that group, Exelon Corp (NASDAQ:EXC) and American Electric Power Co Inc (NASDAQ:AEP) are two of the day's stand-outs, showing a gain of 2.5% and 1.5%, 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 0.48% year-to-date. Exelon Corp, meanwhile, is up 7.20% year-to-date, and American Electric Power Co Inc is up 11.41% year-to-date. Combined, EXC and AEP make up approximately 10.0% of the underlying holdings of XLU.

The next best performing sector is the Healthcare sector, losing just 1.3%. Among large Healthcare stocks, Elevance Health Inc (NYSE:ELV) and Cigna Corp (NYSE:CI) are the most notable, with ELV showing a gain of 0.7% and CI flat on the day. One ETF closely tracking Healthcare stocks is the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV), which is down 1.0% in midday trading, and down 1.74% on a year-to-date basis. Elevance Health Inc, meanwhile, is up 14.59% year-to-date, and Cigna Corp is up 44.53% year-to-date. Combined, ELV and CI make up approximately 3.8% of the underlying holdings of XLV.

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