
Wednesday Sector Leaders: Energy, Financial
In afternoon trading on Wednesday, Energy stocks are the best performing sector, up 6.2%. Within that group, Noble Energy Inc (Symbol: NBL) and Marathon Petroleum Corp. (Symbol: MPC) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 11.7% and 11.6%, respectively. Among energy ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLE), which is up 5.2% on the day, and down 35.67% year-to-date. Noble Energy Inc, meanwhile, is down 62.88% year-to-date, and Marathon Petroleum Corp., is down 46.39% year-to-date. Combined, NBL and MPC make up approximately 4.7% of the underlying holdings of XLE.
The next best performing sector is the Financial sector, higher by 3.9%. Among large Financial stocks, Discover Financial Services (Symbol: DFS) and Regency Centers Corp (Symbol: REG) are the most notable, showing a gain of 13.0% and 11.4%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Financial stocks is the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF), which is up 3.1% in midday trading, and down 23.38% on a year-to-date basis. Discover Financial Services, meanwhile, is down 46.11% year-to-date, and Regency Centers Corp, is down 27.47% year-to-date. DFS makes up approximately 0.7% of the underlying holdings of XLF.
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, eight sectors are up on the day, while one sector is down.
Sector | % Change |
---|---|
Energy | +6.2% |
Financial | +3.9% |
Industrial | +3.1% |
Services | +3.0% |
Technology & Communications | +2.9% |
Materials | +2.9% |
Healthcare | +1.8% |
Consumer Products | +1.7% |
Utilities | -0.2% |
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