The Materials Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLB), the largest diversified exchange-traded fund tracking the materials sector, is up 9.1 percent year-to-date. XLB's 2016 is impressive not only because it puts the fund in third place among the sector SPDR ETFs, but also because XLB sagged 8.7 percent last year.
XLB has been buoyed not only by rebounding commodities prices, but also by mergers and acquisitions activity. For example, Monsanto Company (NYSE: MON), XLB's third-largest holding, is the target of a takeover by Germany's Bayer AG (ADR) (OTC: BAYRY), while Dow Chemical Co (NYSE: DOW) and E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co (NYSE: DD) are merging to become one of the largest chemicals makers in the world. Those three stocks combine for nearly a third ...
/www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/long-ideas/16/06/8106456/material-girls-materials-etfs-look-for-more-upside alt=Material Girls: Materials ETFs Look For More Upside>Full story available on Benzinga.com
More...