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Tuesday Sector Leaders: Energy, Materials

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In afternoon trading on Tuesday, Energy stocks are the best performing sector, up 0.6%. Within that group, Marathon Petroleum Corp. (NYSE:MPC) and Phillips 66 (NYSE:PSX) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 5.4% and 1.6%, respectively. Among energy ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLE), which is up 0.6% on the day, and up 0.91% year-to-date. Marathon Petroleum Corp., meanwhile, is up 13.75% year-to-date, and Phillips 66 is up 6.19% year-to-date. Combined, MPC and PSX make up approximately 8.2% of the underlying holdings of XLE.

The next best performing sector is the Materials sector, up 0.4%. Among large Materials stocks, Nucor Corp. (NYSE:NUE) and Steel Dynamics Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) are the most notable, showing a gain of 6.1% and 4.0%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLB), which is up 0.6% in midday trading, and down 2.48% on a year-to-date basis. Nucor Corp., meanwhile, is up 7.71% year-to-date, and Steel Dynamics Inc. is up 2.94% year-to-date. Combined, NUE and STLD make up approximately 6.6% of the underlying holdings of XLB.

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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 Tuesday. As you can see, eight sectors are up on the day, while one sector is down.