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Thursday Sector Leaders: Materials, Financial

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Looking at the sectors faring best as of midday Thursday, shares of Materials companies are outperforming other sectors, higher by 1.2%. Within that group, Masco Corp. (NYSE:MAS) and Bunge Ltd. (NYSE:BG) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 6.0% and 4.5%, respectively. Among the high volume ETFs, one ETF closely following materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLB), which is up 1.1% on the day, and down 1.57% year-to-date. Masco Corp., meanwhile, is up 9.82% year-to-date, and Bunge Ltd. is up 13.76% year-to-date.

The next best performing sector is the Financial sector, higher by 1.1%. Among large Financial stocks, American Tower Corp (NYSE:AMT) and Crown Castle Inc (NYSE:CCI) are the most notable, showing a gain of 8.1% and 4.9%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Financial stocks is the Financial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLF), which is up 0.1% in midday trading, and down 5.02% on a year-to-date basis. American Tower Corp, meanwhile, is down 16.24% year-to-date, and Crown Castle Inc, is down 30.43% year-to-date.

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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, four sectors are up on the day, while five sectors are down.

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