Tuesday Sector Leaders: Healthcare, Technology & Communications

The best performing sector as of midday Tuesday is the Healthcare sector, higher by 1.9%. Within that group, Danaher Corp (NYSE:DHR) and Waters Corp. (NYSE:WAT) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 7.3% and 5.2%, respectively. Among healthcare ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Health Care Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLV), which is up 1.4% on the day, and up 4.08% year-to-date. Danaher Corp, meanwhile, is up 9.66% year-to-date, and Waters Corp., is down 4.43% year-to-date. Combined, DHR and WAT make up approximately 3.5% of the underlying holdings of XLV.

The next best performing sector is the Technology & Communications sector, up 1.6%. Among large Technology & Communications stocks, Super Micro Computer Inc (NASDAQ:SMCI) and Fiserv Inc (NYSE:FI) are the most notable, showing a gain of 6.3% and 4.5%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Technology & Communications stocks is the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLK), which is up 1.5% in midday trading, and up 2.62% on a year-to-date basis. Super Micro Computer Inc, meanwhile, is up 168.11% year-to-date, and Fiserv Inc is up 17.05% year-to-date. SMCI makes 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 Tuesday. As you can see, nine sectors are up on the day, while none of the sectors are down.