The materials sector of the economy is driven by companies that deliver raw goods or natural resources to the public or to other companies. They are often not well received companies because of their environmental track record and their labor practices. The truth is that getting materials from the earth is a dangerous business. These companies include gold miners, coal miners, fertilizers and chemicals. These tend to do well when the underlying commodities have their price go up. This was the case between 2001-2008 when many commodity prices exploded to all-time highs. Gold tripled in value during this time.
The largest companies worldwide in this segment are BHP Billiton, Monsanto and BASF.