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Thursday Sector Leaders: Energy, Technology & Communications

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Looking at the sectors faring best as of midday Thursday, shares of Energy companies are outperforming other sectors, up 1.2%. Within that group, Chevron Corporation (NYSE:CVX) and Exxon Mobil Corp (NYSE:XOM) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 4.3% and 3.3%, respectively. Among energy ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLE), which is up 2.3% on the day, and up 9.40% year-to-date. Chevron Corporation, meanwhile, is up 7.31% year-to-date, and Exxon Mobil Corp is up 9.83% year-to-date. Combined, CVX and XOM make up approximately 43.6% of the underlying holdings of XLE.

The next best performing sector is the Technology & Communications sector, higher by 1.0%. Among large Technology & Communications stocks, Seagate Technology Holdings PLC (NASDAQ:STX) and Epam Systems, Inc. (NYSE:EPAM) are the most notable, showing a gain of 11.8% and 5.2%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Technology & Communications stocks is the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK), which is up 0.9% in midday trading, and up 9.66% on a year-to-date basis. Seagate Technology Holdings PLC, meanwhile, is up 34.16% year-to-date, and Epam Systems, Inc. is up 4.45% year-to-date. Combined, STX and EPAM make up approximately 0.4% of the underlying holdings of XLK.

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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, eight sectors are up on the day, while one sector is down.