Major Averages Climb Off Lows But Still Close In The Red

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure over the course of the previous session, stocks saw some further downside during trading on Tuesday. Concerns about the outlook for the Federal Reserve's stimulus program continued to weigh on the markets.

Extending a recent downward move, airline stocks saw considerable weakness on the day. The NYSE Arca Airline Index fell by 2.1 percent, pulling back further off the eleven-year closing high set last Wednesday.

SkyWest (SKYW), United Continental (UAL), and Republic Airways (RJET) turned in some of the airline sector's worst performances.

Gold stocks also came under pressure, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 1.6 percent to a five-year closing low. The continued weakness in the sector came amid a modest decrease by the price of gold.

Significant weakness was also visible among chemical stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent loss posted by the Dow Jones Chemicals Index. Biotech, brokerage, and banking stocks also saw notable weakness.

The major averages climbed well off their lows for the session but still ended the day in the red. The Dow fell 94.15 points or 0.6 percent to 15,914.62, the Nasdaq dipped 8.06 points or 0.2 percent to 4,037.20 and the S&P 500 slid 5.75 points or 0.3 percent to 1,795.15.

With the losses on the day, the Dow and the S&P 500 closed lower for the third straight session, pulling back below the key psychological levels of 16,000 and 1,800, respectively.