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Thursday Sector Leaders: Technology & Communications, Industrial

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In afternoon trading on Thursday, Technology & Communications stocks are the best performing sector, higher by 0.7%. Within that group, Broadcom Inc (NASDAQ:AVGO) and NVIDIA Corp (NASDAQ:NVDA) are two of the day's stand-outs, showing a gain of 4.6% and 3.2%, respectively. Among technology ETFs, one ETF following the sector is the Technology Select Sector SPDR ETF (NYSE:XLK), which is up 1.6% on the day, and up 8.19% year-to-date. Broadcom Inc, meanwhile, is up 24.38% year-to-date, and NVIDIA Corp is up 81.32% year-to-date. Combined, AVGO and NVDA make up approximately 9.1% of the underlying holdings of XLK.

The next best performing sector is the Industrial sector, up 0.4%. Among large Industrial stocks, Delta Air Lines Inc (NYSE:DAL) and Gartner Inc (NYSE:IT) are the most notable, showing a gain of 3.1% and 2.8%, respectively. One ETF closely tracking Industrial stocks is the Industrial Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLI), which is up 0.3% in midday trading, and up 9.48% on a year-to-date basis. Delta Air Lines Inc, meanwhile, is up 18.79% year-to-date, and Gartner Inc is up 5.67% year-to-date. DAL makes up approximately 0.8% of the underlying holdings of XLI.

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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 three sectors are down.