Utilities and Healthcare Lead Stock Declines in Tuesday Trading

In afternoon trading on Tuesday, Utilities stocks are struggling, displaying a 1.3% loss. Eversource Energy (Symbol: ES) and Vistra Corp (Symbol: VST) are among the primary contributors to this decline, both showing losses of 2.5%. The Utilities Select Sector SPDR ETF (Symbol: XLU), which tracks this sector, is also down 1.4% for the day but up 2.55% year-to-date. For context, Eversource Energy has increased by 4.69% year-to-date, while Vistra Corp has declined by 4.43%. Collectively, ES and VST represent approximately 5.6% of XLU’s underlying holdings.

The Healthcare sector follows closely behind, with a 1.0% loss. In this sector, Merck & Co Inc (Symbol: MRK) and AbbVie Inc (Symbol: ABBV) are notable laggards, with losses of 4.7% and 3.7%, respectively. The Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLV), which closely tracks Healthcare stocks, is down 1.3% in midday trading, although it remains up 6.02% year-to-date. Merck is down 10.72% year-to-date, while AbbVie has seen an increase of 14.23%. Together, MRK and ABBV account for around 11.2% of XLV’s total holdings.

For further analysis, the following chart compares the stock price performance of these entities and ETFs over a trailing twelve-month period. Each stock symbol is represented in a different color as indicated in the legend below:

Here is an overview of how the S&P 500 sectors are performing in afternoon trading on Tuesday. As noted, only one sector shows an increase while seven sectors are experiencing declines.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Nasdaq, Inc.