Shares of power producers rallied as investors rotated into the defensive sector out of cyclical areas such as small-cap, energy and financial stocks.

The SPDR Select Utilities exchange-traded fund, which tracks the utility sector of the Standard & Poor's 500, has lagged the broad market for months, but rose by about 2% on the day, roughly doubling its gains for the year to date.

Shares of utilities associated with renewable-energy production, such as NextEra Energy, were particularly strong. 


 Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-25-21 1728ET