Friday Sector Leaders: Materials, Energy

In afternoon trading on Friday, Materials stocks are the best performing sector, up 2.9%. Within the sector, Newmont Corp (Symbol: NEM) and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (Symbol: FCX) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 9.4% and 6.9%, respectively. Among the high volume ETFs, one ETF closely following materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLB), which is up 3.3% on the day, and down 3.56% year-to-date. Newmont Corp, meanwhile, is up 50.38% year-to-date, and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold, is down 11.58% year-to-date. Combined, NEM and FCX make up approximately 10.4% of the underlying holdings of XLB.

The next best performing sector is the Energy sector, higher by 2.2%. Among large Energy stocks, Expand Energy Corp (Symbol: EXE) and Halliburton Company (Symbol: HAL) are the most notable, showing a gain of 3.9% and 3.8%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Energy stocks is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE), which is up 2.4% in midday trading, and down 7.13% on a year-to-date basis. Expand Energy Corp, meanwhile, is up 4.43% year-to-date, and Halliburton Company, is down 22.01% year-to-date. Combined, EXE and HAL make up approximately 3.1% of the underlying holdings of XLE.

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

Sector	% Change
Materials	+2.9%
Energy	+2.2%
Industrial	+2.0%
Healthcare	+1.7%
Technology & Communications	+1.6%
Consumer Products	+1.4%
Utilities	+1.4%
Financial	+1.1%
Services	+0.9%