Wednesday Sector Leaders: Energy, Healthcare

In afternoon trading on Wednesday, Energy stocks are the best performing sector, up 0.8%. Within that group, Phillips 66 (Symbol: PSX) and Halliburton Company (Symbol: HAL) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 3.2% and 3.1%, respectively. Among energy ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLE), which is up 1.0% on the day, and up 5.60% year-to-date. Phillips 66, meanwhile, is up 24.22% year-to-date, and Halliburton Company is up 2.81% year-to-date. Combined, PSX and HAL make up approximately 5.4% of the underlying holdings of XLE.

The next best performing sector is the Healthcare sector, losing just 0.1%. Among large Healthcare stocks, Centene Corp (Symbol: CNC) and Universal Health Services, Inc. (Symbol: UHS) are the most notable, showing a gain of 10.8% and 2.0%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Healthcare stocks is the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV), which is down 0.3% in midday trading, and up 6.77% on a year-to-date basis. Centene Corp, meanwhile, is down 39.28% year-to-date, and Universal Health Services, Inc. is up 25.06% year-to-date. Combined, CNC and UHS 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 Wednesday. As you can see, one sector is up on the day, while eight sectors are down. Sector% ChangeEnergy+0.8%Healthcare-0.1%Materials-0.1%Utilities-0.2%Technology & Communications-0.2%Industrial-0.2%Services-0.6%Financial-1.0%Consumer Products-1.8%

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Also see:

• Canadian Stocks Going Ex-Dividend
• Institutional Holders of FITE
• ASPS market cap history

The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.