Top Performers in Top Sectors: Materials, Retail

Below we highlight the year to date performance of the ten S&P 500 sectors. Unfortunately, not one sector is up on the year, however, Materials and Consumer Discretionary are both down less than 3%. The Consumer Staples sector ranks third at -5.30%. On the downside, Telecom is down nearly 20%, while Technology ranks second to last at -15.38%. These two sectors are by far the worst performers, with nearly double the declines of Financials (which is the third worst).

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Below we highlight the top ten performing stocks on the year in the best performing sectors. Based on price performance, these stocks are the best of the best. In Consumer Discretionary, many homebuilders make the list, including PHM, DHI, MDC and KBH. Other names include NYT, CC and OMX. Just last year, these stocks were on the list of worst performers, but in 2008 they have switched roles (at least for now). In Consumer Staples, ACV, WMT, NTY and CVS top the list, while in Materials it's CLF, MOS, SEE and NUE.