Defensives Lead Sectors Thursday As Growth Sectors Trail

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Four sectors are higher and seven are lower in Thursday’s regular session, with defensive sectors holding two of 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>93.28/td>td>+1.45%/td>/tr>tr>td>Energy/td>td>XLE/td>td>64.24/td>td>+1.13%/td>/tr>tr>td>Utilities/td>td>XLU/td>td>43.78/td>td>+0.40%/td>/tr>tr>td>Health Care/td>td>XLV/td>td>190.16/td>td>+0.26%/td>/tr>tr>td>Real Estate/td>td>XLRE/td>td>44.74/td>td>-0.85%/td>/tr>tr>td>Communication Services/td>td>XLC/td>td>104.06/td>td>-0.86%/td>/tr>tr>td>Materials/td>td>XLB/td>td>53.06/td>td>-1.55%/td>/tr>tr>td>Financials/td>td>XLF/td>td>58.26/td>td>-1.60%/td>/tr>tr>td>Industrials/td>td>XLI/td>td>164.88/td>td>-2.71%/td>/tr>tr>td>Consumer Discretionary/td>td>XLY/td>td>117.60/td>td>-3.87%/td>/tr>tr>td>Technology/td>td>XLK/td>td>164.31/td>td>-6.91%/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 3.23% and the Invesco QQQ Trust, Series 1 (NASDAQ:QQQ)/a> 5.57%, while the State Street SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (NYSE:DIA)/a> is down 2.16% and the iShares Russell 2000 Index Fund (NYSE:IWM)/a> 2.92%. Nine of the eleven sectors are below the S&P 500.

Leading Sectors

Consumer Staples Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP)/a> +1.45%

Among the sector’s large-cap names, Costco Wholesale Corp (NASDAQ:COST)/a> is up 3.31%, PepsiCo Inc (NASDAQ:PEP)/a> 2.16% and Procter & Gamble Co (NYSE:PG)/a> 1.90%.

Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLE)/a> +1.13%

Among the sector’s large-cap names, ConocoPhillips (NYSE:COP)/a> is up 2.31%, EOG Resources Inc (NYSE:EOG)/a> 2.27% and ExxonMobil Holdings Corp (NYSE:XOM)/a> 2.09%.

Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLU)/a> +0.40%

Among the sector’s large-cap names, Southern Co (NYSE:SO)/a> is up 2.73%, Duke Energy Corp (NYSE:DUK)/a> 2.52% and American Electric Power Co Inc (NASDAQ:AEP)/a> 1.59%.

Middle Of The Pack

li>Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLV)/a> +0.26%/li>li>Real Estate Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLRE)/a> -0.85%/li>li>Communication Services Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLC)/a> -0.86%/li>li>Materials Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLB)/a> -1.55%/li>li>Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLF)/a> -1.60%/li>

Lagging Sectors

Industrial Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLI)/a> -2.71%

Among the sector’s large-cap names, Caterpillar Inc (NYSE:CAT)/a> is down 6.03%, GE Aerospace (NYSE:GE)/a> 4.10% and Honeywell International Inc (NASDAQ:HON)/a> 2.92%.

Consumer Discretionary Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLY)/a> -3.87%

Among the sector’s large-cap names, Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA)/a> is down 10.67%, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN)/a> 4.21% and Nike Inc (NYSE:NKE)/a> 1.00%.

Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK)/a> -6.91%

Among the sector’s large-cap names, Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO)/a> is down 9.21%, Oracle Corp (NYSE:ORCL)/a> 8.31% and NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA)/a> 8.23%.

Cross-Sector Takeaway

The 8.36-point spread between Consumer Staples and Technology is around half again as wide as the largest move among the major averages, which are down between 2.16% and 5.57%. The major averages are lower, masking a session where leadership is concentrated in Consumer Staples and Energy. Defensives are holding up better — Utilities is up 0.40% — which gives the session a rotational look.

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