Utilities Lag Broader Market as Only 19.4% of Stocks Advance

Breadth across the Utilities sector narrowed on Friday, September 11, with only 19.4% of its stocks advancing. The sector closed -0.3%, weighed down by PG&E Corp (-1.7%), while NRG Energy Inc. (+1.6%) and Vistra Corp. (+0.9%) were among the few gainers. On a session where 9 of the 11 sectors rose, our sources show no reported driver for the sector's decline. Across the wider market, major stock indexes rallied and oil prices eased after inflation data matched expectations and bond yields rose.

For investors tracking the group, the Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund, an exchange-traded fund trading under the ticker XLU, closed -0.3% at $42.38. The equal-weighted sector return of -0.4% ran close to the cap-weighted result of -0.3%. That alignment shows that Friday's weakness extended broadly across member companies rather than being driven solely by the largest individual holdings in the portfolio.

Every day EasyAlpha grades each company against its industry peers. The grade reflects peer-relative quality from analysis of historical data. Across the Utilities sector, only 27.2% of the fund's graded weight sits in companies graded A or B. Companies graded A or B have stronger fundamentals, and historically they have carried a lower risk of large drawdowns than companies graded D or E. The remaining weight sits in companies graded C, D, or E, reflecting typical or below-average peer standing across the sector.

Over longer windows, the fund's performance has remained negative across multiple periods. The fund closed -3.3% over the past month, -9.8% over the past six months, and -50.2% over the past twelve months. Holding $21.8 billion in net assets at an expense ratio of 0.08%, the fund concentrates capital across a sector where longer-term returns have trended lower over the past year.