Wednesday Sector Laggards: Energy, Utilities

Looking at the sectors faring worst as of midday Wednesday, shares of Energy companies are underperforming other sectors, showing a 0.3% loss. Within that group, Halliburton Company (Symbol: HAL) and Diamondback Energy, Inc. (Symbol: FANG) are two large stocks that are lagging, showing a loss of 2.5% and 1.6%, respectively. Among energy ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLE), which is down 0.2% on the day, and up 4.11% year-to-date. Halliburton Company, meanwhile, is down 16.20% year-to-date, and Diamondback Energy, Inc., is down 6.97% year-to-date. Combined, HAL and FANG make up approximately 3.4% of the underlying holdings of XLE.

The next worst performing sector is the Utilities sector, higher by 0.2%. Among large Utilities stocks, Eversource Energy (Symbol: ES) and Pinnacle West Capital Corp (Symbol: PNW) are the most notable, showing a loss of 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Utilities stocks is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU), which is up 0.3% in midday trading, and up 7.22% on a year-to-date basis. Eversource Energy, meanwhile, is up 12.02% year-to-date, and Pinnacle West Capital Corp is up 6.41% year-to-date. Combined, ES and PNW make up approximately 2.7% of the underlying holdings of XLU.

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.

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