Utilities and Consumer Products Struggle in Wednesday Trading
In afternoon trading on Wednesday, the Utilities sector is the weakest performer, showing minimal gains. American Water Works Co., Inc. (Symbol: AWK) and Exelon Corp (Symbol: EXC) are the primary laggards, with losses of 2.6% and 2.0%, respectively. The Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLU), which tracks the sector, has seen a slight increase of 0.1% today and is up 3.84% year-to-date. In contrast, American Water Works has risen 17.42% this year, while Exelon Corp is up 24.43%. Together, AWK and EXC account for around 6.3% of XLU’s total holdings.
Consumer Products Sector Lags Behind
Following Utilities, the Consumer Products sector is the next underperformer, with a 0.4% increase. In this sector, Kimberly-Clark Corp. (Symbol: KMB) and Colgate-Palmolive Co. (Symbol: CL) have notable declines, losing 4.1% and 2.7%, respectively. The iShares U.S. Consumer Goods ETF (IYK), which tracks Consumer Products stocks, is down 1.0% in midday trading but remains up 8.60% year-to-date. Year-to-date performance for Kimberly-Clark stands at an increase of 1.90%, while Colgate-Palmolive is up 3.62%. The combined weight of KMB and CL in IYK is approximately 5.4%.
Market Performance Snapshot
To illustrate the performance trends more clearly, here’s a relative stock price performance chart. Each stock is represented in different colors, enabling an easier comparison of their performances over the trailing twelve months.
For a broader market view, here is a snapshot of S&P 500 sectors during Wednesday’s afternoon trading. Notably, eight sectors showed gains, while Utilities has remained unchanged.
| Sector | % Change |
|---|---|
| Technology & Communications | +2.9% |
| Industrial | +2.1% |
| Healthcare | +1.5% |
| Services | +1.4% |
| Financial | +1.3% |
| Materials | +1.0% |
| Energy | +0.5% |
| Consumer Products | +0.4% |
| Utilities | -0.0% |
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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
