Sector Performance During the Afternoon Pullback

The S&P 500 declined about 1.3% from its intraday high to the close Thursday for a pretty significant reversal. Below we highlight the performance of the 10 S&P 500 sectors from the time the market began its afternoon sell-off at 1:27 PM ET to the close. As shown, the Materials sector fell the most at 2.43%, followed by Financials (-1.92%) and Energy (-1.46%). The four most defensive sectors (Utilities, Health Care, Telecom, and Consumer Staples) unsurprisingly sold off the least. The Energy sector has really been struggling lately. It barely budged as the overall market made new highs in recent days, and Thursday it was one of the leaders to the downside.