Although several sectors have notched strong third-quarter performance, the ones listed below are among the standouts. For more stories on sector ETFs, visit our sector ETF category.:

1. Technology. Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) is the latest big tech name to post strong earnings. The maker of the popular iPhone posted a 47% gain in profit, taking investors and analysts by surprise. Shares were up 5.4% as of Tuesday, reports Jessica Mintz for the Associated Press.

Other technology companies posted strong earnings, as well. (Read about them here).

• Technology Select Sector SPDR (NYSEArca: XLK): up 40.3% year-to-date; Apple 8.1%

• FirstTrust NASDAQ -100 Tech Index (NYSEArca: QTEC): up 67.6% year-to-date; Apple 2.7%

2. Pharmaceuticals. The sector came out a winner in the health care bill that went through the finance committee last week. Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) reported a 26% higher profit, but lower sales. The world’s largest drug maker posted net income of $2.88 billion, or 43 cents a share, even as many patents have been expiring, reports Val Kennedy for MarketWatch.

• iShares Dow Jones U.S. Healthcare (NYSEArca: IYH): up 14.2% year-to-date; Pfizer is 10.6%

• Vanguard Health Care (NYSEArca: VHT): up 15.3% year-to-date; Pfizer is  7.5%

3. Fast Food. McDonald’s (NYSE: MCD) and Yum Brands (NYSE: YUM) have weathered the recession nicely, as price-aware consumers stop going out to sit-down restaurants. Yum Brands has continues to thrive; its third-quarter earnings rose 18% thanks to lower costs that helped the company earn a profit in both the United States and China. McDonald’s announces earnings on Thursday.

• PowerShares Dynamic Food And Beverage (NYSEArca: PBJ): up 10.8% year-to-date; Yum 4.7%; McDonald’s 4.5%

Technology

Technology continues to be a hot topic with investors for some of the following reasons:

• Consumers love and rely on technology, and they insist on name brands regardless of the economy; just look at sales of the newest iPhone, and we’re in a recession
• Moody’s recently upgraded the sector to “stable”
• NASDAQ is outperforming other indexes year-to-date; it’s up 33.3% while the S&P 500 is up 16.5% and the Dow is up 10.3%
• Semiconductor and PC demand are expected to stabilize this year and then surge in 2010

Nat Worden for The Wall Street Journal suggests taking a look at the SPDR Technology Select Sector (NYSEArca: XLK),which is up 36% year-to-date.  XLK tracks 85 technology companies, has nearly $3.7 billion in assets and enables one to grab exposure to tech giants such as Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) and Apple (Nasdaq: APPL).

The iShares Dow Jones U.S. Technology Sector Index Fund (NYSEArca: IYW) which is up 46.4% year-to-date and includes heavy exposure to MSFT and APPL, as well.

The PowerShares Dynamic Technology (NYSEArca: PTF) which is up 30.7% year-to-date and includes exposure to MSFT, APPL and more.

The First Trust NASDAQ-100 Tech Index (NasdaqGM: QTEC) which is up 62.3% year-to-date and includes equal-weighted exposure to the technology stocks that make up the Nasdaq 100.

For more stories on technology, visit our technology category.

Kevin Grewal contributed to this article.

NASDAQ has been one of the leaders in the recovery. It was the first major index, for example, to cross  its long-term trend line. Earnings from Apple (APPL) and Intel (INTC) propelled the index even higher, leading to the index’s longest winning streak in 13 years. That streak came to an end today.

Amy Scott for Marketplace reports that the technology sector has had a strong second quarter, even though concerns about the broader economy still persist.

Technology systems are forced to constantly update their programs for efficiency, which causes businesses to follow. So even if companies cut employees, they will still place a premium on efficiency and up-to-date programs and software.

Will this last? Microsoft (MSFT) may have clouded the sunny view. The company posted a 29% drop in quarterly profit and weak sales across all of its units. This is the first full year of losses ever posted by the software giant, explains Nick Wingfield for The Wall Street Journal.

• First Trust NASDAQ-100 Tech Index (QTEC): up 50.2% year-to-date

• PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ): up 32.7% year-to-date

For more stories about technology, visit our technology category.

No question: there’s a lot to do. But some things are going to take priority over others.

Very few health care analysts expect the new president to act upon health care issues any time soon. The Democrats are expected to abandon the Bush administration’s positions on Medicare and other issues. This could give Medicare the power to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies, reports Reed Abelson for The New York Times.

• Vanguard Heath Care (VHT), down 25.9% year-to-date

Like health care, the energy area may see delays as other pressing financial woes need to be dealt with first. With Obama’s leadership, the energy industry faces a shift with the emphasis on conservation and renewable power. But bigger issues, such as global warming, could once again stew on the back burner.

High energy costs and concerns about global warming have heightened the sense of urgency for a broad policy that tackles both the nation’s oil use and its energy-related carbon emissions, though. Expansion of offshore drilling may have shifted in Obama’s eyes as a possibility instead of remaining adamantly opposed, reports Jad Mouawad for The New York Times.

• Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE), down 39.5% year-to-date

Obama has endorsed the industry’s call for raising the number of H-1B temporary work visas, which are available now to only 65,000 skilled foreign engineers each year, all of which are claimed within minutes. The major challenge right now is public sentiment that foreigners are taking American’s jobs at a time when unemployment is rising rapidly, reports Matt Richtel for The New York Times.

Meanwhile, the tech industry will call upon the new president for things such as net neutrality, policies to spread high speed Internet access, and step up broadband penetration to higher standards. They hope he will be committed to his stated support of certain issues affecting their industry.

• First Trust NASDAQ 100 Technology Sector (QTEC), down 43.8% year-to-date

First, Google (GOOG) came out with earnings that were lower than expected. Then Microsoft (MSFT) missed earnings forecasts by a penny. The earnings seemed to signal that our slowing economy was weighing on demand for computer-related products, says Vivek Shankar for Bloomberg.

Google’s slide raises concern that spending is falling in the online advertising market, which they dominate. Microsoft dominates the software industry, where spending seems to have tapered off as well.

Companies that get a majority of their revenue outside the United States, such as Intel (INTC), have fared better. Intel’s earnings reports this week surpassed analyst estimates. Google gets half of its revenue in the United States, while Microsoft gets 60% of its revenue domestically. This strength doesn’t appear to be enough to boost the global technology ETF, however, particularly because Intel is not as strongly weighted in it as Google and Microsoft happen to be.

The technology ETFs trading lower on the news include:

• PowerShares QQQ (QQQQ): down 10.8% year-to-date; Google is 4.9%; Intel is 2.7%; Microsoft is 5.2%
• Technology Select Sector SPDR (XLK): down 15.1% year-to-date; Google is 5.5%; Intel is 5.5%; Microsoft is 9.2%
• First Trust Nasdaq-100 Technology Sector Index Fund (QTEC): down 10.1% year-to-date; Google is 2.9%
• iShares S&P Global Technolgy Report (IXN): down 12.4% year-to-date; Google is 4.6%; Intel is 4.7% and Microsoft is 8.3%