Late-Day Pullback Leads To Lower Close On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - After trading mostly higher for much of the session, stocks reversed course late in the trading day on Monday to close in the red. Worries about the situation in Syria weighed on the markets following comments from Secretary of State John Kerry.

A majority of the major sectors ended the day in the red following the late-day pull back, although most showed relatively modest moves to the downside.

Banking, utilities and airline stocks turned in some of the market's worst performances, giving back ground after moving higher in the latter part of last week.

Despite the pullback by the broader markets, however, significant strength remained visible among biotechnology stocks. Reflecting the strength in the sector, the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index advanced by 2 percent.

Within the biotech sector, Amgen (AMGN) and Onyx Pharmaceuticals (ONXX) posted strong gains after Amgen agreed to acquire Onyx for $125 per share in cash. The transaction is valued at $10.4 billion.

The major averages all ended the day in negative territory, although the Nasdaq closed only slightly lower. While the Nasdaq edged down 0.22 points or less than 0.1 percent to 3,657.57, the Dow fell 64.05 points or 0.4 percent to 14,946.46 and the S&P 500 slid 6.72 points or 0.4 percent to 1,656.78.