Thursday Sector Leaders: Energy, Materials

The best performing sector as of midday Thursday is the Energy sector, higher by 1.3%. Within that group, APA Corp (Symbol: APA) and Targa Resources Corp (Symbol: TRGP) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 4.1% and 3.1%, respectively. Among energy ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLE), which is up 1.2% on the day, and up 1.51% year-to-date. APA Corp, meanwhile, is down 17.61% year-to-date, and Targa Resources Corp, is down 0.55% year-to-date. Combined, APA and TRGP make up approximately 3.2% of the underlying holdings of XLE.

The next best performing sector is the Materials sector, higher by 1.1%. Among large Materials stocks, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (Symbol: FCX) and Albemarle Corp. (Symbol: ALB) are the most notable, showing a gain of 7.2% and 6.8%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB), which is up 1.1% in midday trading, and up 5.35% on a year-to-date basis. Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold, meanwhile, is up 17.94% year-to-date, and Albemarle Corp., is down 24.15% year-to-date. Combined, FCX and ALB make up approximately 5.9% of the underlying holdings of XLB.

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, nine sectors are up on the day, while none of the sectors are down.

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Also see:

• Materials Stocks Hedge Funds Are Buying
• TECU Historical Stock Prices
• AMPH YTD Return

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