Thursday Sector Leaders: Materials, Industrial

The best performing sector as of midday Thursday is the Materials sector, higher by 2.2%. Within that group, Albemarle Corp. (Symbol: ALB) and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (Symbol: FCX) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 8.1% and 7.7%, respectively. Among the high volume ETFs, one ETF closely following materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLB), which is up 2.1% on the day, and up 14.89% year-to-date. Albemarle Corp., meanwhile, is down 34.40% year-to-date, and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold is up 23.29% year-to-date. Combined, ALB and FCX make up approximately 6.9% of the underlying holdings of XLB.

The next best performing sector is the Industrial sector, higher by 1.4%. Among large Industrial stocks, Jabil Inc (Symbol: JBL) and United Airlines Holdings Inc (Symbol: UAL) are the most notable, showing a gain of 11.4% and 9.0%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Industrial stocks is the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI), which is up 0.8% in midday trading, and up 19.53% on a year-to-date basis. Jabil Inc, meanwhile, is down 0.60% year-to-date, and United Airlines Holdings Inc is up 42.97% year-to-date. UAL makes up approximately 0.5% of the underlying holdings of XLI.

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, seven sectors are up on the day, while one sector is down.

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Also see:

• Computers Dividend Stocks
• SPSM Historical Stock Prices
• EVI Historical Stock Prices

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