Utilities led the sectors, pulled by Constellation and Vistra

Utilities led the eleven sectors on Tuesday, October 6, and the rise reached more than two stocks. AXLU, the fund that holds the large US utility companies, rose 3%, with volume twice the recent average. ASPY, which holds the S&P 500, rose 0.5%.

Constellation Energy rose 12% and Vistra rose 11%. They are 7% and 3.6% of AXLU, and together they accounted for 42% of the gain, so most of the 3% came from the other holdings.

The other large holdings rose too, and Tuesday's contracts were not theirs. NextEra Energy, the biggest position in the fund, gained 2.1%. Southern Company gained 2%, and Duke Energy gained 1.6%.

Constellation's jump followed an agreement announced Tuesday morning, before the open. Google agreed to buy 890 megawatts of new nuclear output for 20 years, from upgrades at 11 reactors Constellation already runs in Illinois, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. The first of that power is expected by 2028, and a separate 15-year agreement covers 2,700 megawatts from plants already running.

It was the second contract of this kind in a week. On Wednesday, September 30, Constellation signed a 20-year deal with Amazon to add 190 megawatts at Calvert Cliffs in Maryland, with that power expected between 2030 and 2032, later than Google's first new megawatts.

Vistra's 11% was the next largest gain in the fund. On Monday the Energy Department said it would lend Vistra up to $4.2 billion, if the company meets the conditions, for upgrades that could add 433 megawatts at three plants in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The stock rose 3.5% that day.

The loan pays for upgrades Vistra agreed in January to sell to Meta under 20-year contracts. Tuesday's move was larger than Monday's, and it came in the session after Constellation's announcement.

The 10-year Treasury yield fell 4 basis points, to 5.27%. AVNQ, which holds US real estate, and AXLP, which holds large consumer staples companies, each rose 0.9%. Utilities rose more than three times as much as either fund, a gap the yield move does not explain.

Ten of the eleven large-company sectors rose, while smaller companies fell. AIWM, which holds the small US companies in the Russell 2000, fell 0.7%.

AXLU is still down 4.5% from its Friday, September 4 close, and 14% below its highest price of the past year. On Tuesday, September 29, the fund rose 1.2% as the 30-year yield touched 5.62%, its highest since 2002, and the 30-year finished this Tuesday at 5.64%. This was another rise with the long yield above that mark, not a recovery from the past month.