 The materials sector includes companies engaged in the discovery, development, and processing of raw materials, which are used across many sectors and industries. Materials stocks include manufacturers of products as varied as plastic, fertilizer, paper, concrete, and metals. Materials stocks, as represented by the Materials Select Sector SPDR ETF XLB, have underperformed the broader market, providing investors with a total return of -1.3 compared to the SP; 500s total return of 7.1 over the past 12 months. These market performance numbers and the statistics in the tables below are as of June 22. 