Thursday Sector Leaders: Materials, Services

Looking at the sectors faring best as of midday Thursday, shares of Materials companies are outperforming other sectors, higher by 1.0%. Within that group, Newmont Mining (NYSE: NEM) and Goodyear Tire & Rubber (NASD: GT) are two large stocks leading the way, showing a gain of 3.2% and 3.1%, respectively. Among the high volume ETFs, one ETF closely following materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (AMEX: XLB), which is up 0.8% on the day, and up 6.17% year-to-date. Newmont Mining...