Thursday Sector Laggards: Materials, Financial

Looking at the sectors faring worst as of midday Thursday, shares of Materials companies are underperforming other sectors, up 0.4%. Within that group, Allegheny Technologies (NYSE: ATI) and Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold (NYSE: FCX) are two of the day's laggards, showing a loss of 2.2% and 1.5%, respectively. Among the high volume ETFs, one ETF closely following materials stocks is the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF (AMEX: XLB), which is up 0.6% on the day, and up 6.09% year-to-date. Alleghen...