Monday Sector Leaders: Utilities, Consumer Products

The best performing sector as of midday Monday is the Utilities sector, losing just 0.9%. Within that group, Dominion Energy Inc (Symbol: D) and Duke Energy Corp (Symbol: DUK) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 0.8% and 0.4%, respectively. Among utilities ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLU), which is down 0.7% on the day, and up 8.09% year-to-date. Dominion Energy Inc , meanwhile, is up 8.83% year-to-date, and Duke Energy Corp is up 13.76% year-to-date. Combined, D and DUK make up approximately 15.2% of the underlying holdings of XLU.

The next best performing sector is the Consumer Products sector, losing just 2.9%. Among large Consumer Products stocks, Clorox Co (Symbol: CLX) and Lamb Weston Holdings Inc (Symbol: LW) are the most notable, showing a gain of 1.8% and 0.3%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Consumer Products stocks is the iShares U.S. Consumer Goods ETF (IYK), which is down 2.7% in midday trading, and up 1.72% on a year-to-date basis. Clorox Co , meanwhile, is up 9.81% year-to-date, and Lamb Weston Holdings Inc is up 10.85% year-to-date. Combined, CLX and LW make up approximately 1.4% of the underlying holdings of IYK.

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

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