Major Averages Climb Off Early Lows To Close Mixed

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure in early trading, stocks regained ground over the course of the trading session on Tuesday. The major averages climbed well off their worst levels of the day and eventually ended the session mixed.

Reflecting the mixed close by the broader markets, the major sectors indexes also turned in mixed performance on the day.

Housing stocks showed a strong move to the upside, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 1.6 percent. D.R. Horton (DHI) helped lead the sector higher after reporting better than expected fiscal fourth quarter results and raising its dividend.

Significant strength was also visible among trucking and commercial real estate stocks, with the Dow Jones Trucking Index and the Morgan Stanley REIT Index climbing by 1.2 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.

On the other hand, gold stocks moved sharply lower on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 2.8 percent. The weakness in the sector came despite a modest increase by the price of gold.

Computer hardware, semiconductor, and networking stocks also saw notable weakness, contributing to the loss posted by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

While the Dow and the S&P 500 managed to climb back into positive territory, the Nasdaq edged down 12.06 points or 0.2 percent to 5,083.24. The Dow crept up 27.73 points or 0.2 percent to 17,758.21 and the S&P 500 rose 3.14 points or 0.2 percent to 2,081.72.