Defensives Lead Sectors In Thursday Trading As Growth Trails

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Five sectors are higher and six are lower in Thursday’s regular session, with defensive sectors holding the top three positions. The leaders are separated rather than clustered, with no single gap clearly standing apart from the other breaks across the table./p>figure class="wp-block-table">table style="overflow:auto; height: 90px; display: block;">thead>tr>th>Sector/th>th>Ticker/th>th>Price/th>th>Change/th>/tr>/thead>tbody>tr>td>Consumer Staples/td>td>XLP/td>td>88.94/td>td>+2.09%/td>/tr>tr>td>Health Care/td>td>XLV/td>td>181.58/td>td>+1.47%/td>/tr>tr>td>Utilities/td>td>XLU/td>td>42.34/td>td>+0.79%/td>/tr>tr>td>Real Estate/td>td>XLRE/td>td>42.25/td>td>+0.45%/td>/tr>tr>td>Financials/td>td>XLF/td>td>56.26/td>td>+0.39%/td>/tr>tr>td>Consumer Discretionary/td>td>XLY/td>td>115.19/td>td>-0.29%/td>/tr>tr>td>Materials/td>td>XLB/td>td>51.13/td>td>-0.37%/td>/tr>tr>td>Communication Services/td>td>XLC/td>td>107.51/td>td>-1.34%/td>/tr>tr>td>Industrials/td>td>XLI/td>td>165.48/td>td>-1.69%/td>/tr>tr>td>Energy/td>td>XLE/td>td>66.80/td>td>-2.01%/td>/tr>tr>td>Technology/td>td>XLK/td>td>182.66/td>td>-3.12%/td>/tr>/tbody>/table>

Prices as of 11:00 a.m. ET; quotes delayed 15 minutes.

Market Snapshot

The major averages are all lower. The State Street SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY)/a> is down 1.26% and the Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 (NASDAQ:QQQ)/a> 2.29%, while the State Street SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA)/a> is down 0.37% and the iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (NYSE:IWM)/a> 0.35%. Seven of the 11 sectors outpace the S&P 500.

Leading Sectors

Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP)/a> +2.09%

Among the sector’s large-cap names, Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG)/a> is up 5.62%, PepsiCo Inc (NASDAQ:PEP)/a> 1.90% and Coca-Cola Co (NYSE:KO)/a> 1.72%.

Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV)/a> +1.47%

Among the sector’s large-cap names, Eli Lilly and Co (NYSE:LLY)/a> is up 3.27%, Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ)/a> 2.30% and Merck & Co Inc (NYSE:MRK)/a> 1.93%.

Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU)/a> +0.79%

Among the sector’s large-cap names, NextEra Energy Inc (NYSE:NEE)/a> is up 2.76%, Dominion Energy Inc (NYSE:D)/a> 2.63% and Southern Co (NYSE:SO)/a> 2.00%.

Middle Of The Pack

li>Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLRE)/a> +0.45%/li>li>Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLF)/a> +0.39%/li>li>Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY)/a> -0.29%/li>li>Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLB)/a> -0.37%/li>li>Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLC)/a> -1.34%/li>

Lagging Sectors

Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLI)/a> -1.69%

Among the sector’s large-cap names, Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT)/a> is down 5.26%, GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE)/a> 1.74% and Honeywell International Inc (NASDAQ:HON)/a> 0.71%.

Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE)/a> -2.01%

Among the sector’s large-cap names, SLB Ltd (NYSE:SLB)/a> is down 3.81%, ExxonMobil Holdings Corp (NYSE:XOM)/a> 1.31% and Chevron Corp (NYSE:CVX)/a> 1.19%.

Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK)/a> -3.12%

Among the sector’s large-cap names, Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO)/a> is down 4.02%, NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA)/a> 3.84% and Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL)/a> 2.00%.

Cross-Sector Takeaway

The 5.21-point spread between Consumer Staples and Technology is more than twice the largest move among the major averages, which are down between 0.35% and 2.29%. The major averages are lower, masking a session where leadership is concentrated in Consumer Staples, Health Care and Utilities. Defensives are holding up better — Consumer Staples sits at the top of the table and Health Care ranks second — which gives the session a rotational look.

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