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16 February
Friday Sector Leaders: Materials, Healthcare

The best performing sector as of midday Friday is the Materials sector, higher by 0.8%. Within that group, Vulcan Materials Co (Symbol: VMC) and Albemarle Corp. (Symbol: ALB) are two of the day's stand-outs, showing a gain of 6.2% and 5.4%, respectively. Among the high volume ETFs, one ETF closely following materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLB), which is up 1.0% on the day, and up 0.06% year-to-date. Vulcan Materials Co, meanwhile, is up 13.42% year-to-date, and Albemarle Corp., is down 14.29% year-to-date. Combined, VMC and ALB make up approximately 5.0% of the underlying holdings of XLB.

The next best performing sector is the Healthcare sector, higher by 0.7%. Among large Healthcare stocks, Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc (Symbol: BIO) and Eli Lilly (Symbol: LLY) are the most notable, showing a gain of 7.6% and 4.0%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Healthcare stocks is the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV), which is up 0.9% in midday trading, and up 7.44% on a year-to-date basis. Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc, meanwhile, is up 9.55% year-to-date, and Eli Lilly is up 35.43% year-to-date. Combined, BIO and LLY make up approximately 11.5% of the underlying holdings of XLV.

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, five sectors are up on the day, while three sectors are down.

Dow Component Preferreds
JBHT shares outstanding history
TTD 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.