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A distinct subset of a market, society, industry, or economy, whose components share similar characteristics. Stocks are often grouped into different sectors depending upon the company's business. Standard & Poor's breaks the market into 11 sectors. Two of these sectors, utilities and consumer staples, are said to be defensive sectors, while the rest tend to be more cyclical in nature. The other nine sectors are: transportation, technology, health care, financial, energy, consumer cyclicals, basic materials, capital goods, and communications services. Other groups break up the market into different sector categorizations, and sometimes break them down further into subsectors.

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