Utilities Up Ahead Of Fed Meeting -- Utilities Roundup

Shares of power-plant operators rose as traders hedged their bets ahead of a Federal Reserve policy statement later in the week. The utility sector is among the most sensitive to changes in rate expectations.

After rising substantially in the first half of 2017, the Utilities SPDR Select Sector exchange-traded fund, which tracks the performance of utility stocks in the Standard & Poor's 500, is more or less flat during the last six months. In that time, traders have shifted to other sectors that fare better when rates are rising, such as financials -- the Financial SPDR Select Sector ETF is up about 20% over the same period of time.

--Rob Curran, rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 11, 2017 16:36 ET (21:36 GMT)