Friday Sector Leaders: Materials, Energy

The best performing sector as of midday Friday is the Materials sector, higher by 0.8%. Within that group, Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (NYSE:FCX) and LyondellBasell Industries NV (NYSE:LYB) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 3.7% and 2.1%, respectively. Among the high volume ETFs, one ETF closely following materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLB), which is up 0.7% on the day, and up 17.86% year-to-date. Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold, meanwhile, is up 39.34% year-to-date, and LyondellBasell Industries NV is up 5.62% year-to-date. Combined, FCX and LYB make up approximately 8.1% of the underlying holdings of XLB.

The next best performing sector is the Energy sector, up 0.6%. Among large Energy stocks, NOV Inc (NYSE:NOV) and Baker Hughes Company (NASDAQ:BKR) are the most notable, showing a gain of 2.5% and 2.0%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Energy stocks is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE), which is up 0.5% in midday trading, and up 29.49% on a year-to-date basis. NOV Inc, meanwhile, is down 5.03% year-to-date, and Baker Hughes Company is up 17.60% year-to-date. Combined, NOV and BKR make up approximately 2.8% of the underlying holdings of XLE.

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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.