Thursday Sector Laggards: Financial, Utilities

The worst performing sector as of midday Thursday is the Financial sector, showing a 1.5% loss. Within that group, Marketaxess Holdings Inc (NASDAQ:MKTX) and Crown Castle Inc (NYSE:CCI) are two of the day's laggards, showing a loss of 4.4% and 3.3%, respectively. Among financial ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLF), which is down 0.9% on the day, and up 8.48% year-to-date. Marketaxess Holdings Inc, meanwhile, is down 26.30% year-to-date, and Crown Castle Inc, is down 8.87% year-to-date. MKTX makes up approximately 0.1% of the underlying holdings of XLF.

The next worst performing sector is the Utilities sector, showing a 1.4% loss. Among large Utilities stocks, AES Corp (NYSE:AES) and DTE Energy Co (NYSE:DTE) are the most notable, showing a loss of 4.4% and 2.3%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Utilities stocks is the Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLU), which is down 1.3% in midday trading, and down 0.41% on a year-to-date basis. AES Corp, meanwhile, is down 20.87% year-to-date, and DTE Energy Co, is down 1.57% year-to-date. Combined, AES and DTE make up approximately 3.5% of the underlying holdings of XLU.

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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 Thursday. As you can see, one sector is up on the day, while eight sectors are down.