Major Averages Climb Well Off Lows But Still Close In The Red

(RTTNews) - After showing a substantial move to the downside in morning trading on Friday, stocks staged a recovery attempt late in the session but still finished the day in the red. The losses on the day partly offset the rally that was seen in the previous session.

Reflecting a steep drop by the price of crude oil, oil service stocks showed a steep drop on the day. The Philadelphia Oil Service Index plummeted by 2.6 percent to its lowest closing level in over four years.

Rowan (RDC), Core Laboratories (CLB) and Tidewater (TDW) turned in some of the oil service sector's worst performances.

Steel stocks also moved sharply lower amid concerns about the impact of the stronger dollar. Reflecting the weakness in the sector, the NYSE Arca Steel Index plunged by 2.3 percent to a nearly six-year closing low.

Computer hardware, tobacco, and utilities also ended the day notably lower, while most of the other major sectors climbed well off their worst levels.

The major averages closed in negative territory but well off their worst levels of the day. The Dow slid 145.91 points or 0.8 percent to 17,749.31, the Nasdaq dipped 21.53 points or 0.4 percent to 4,871.76 and the S&P 500 fell 12.55 points or 0.6 percent to 2,053.40.

For the week, the Dow dropped by 0.6 percent, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 tumbled by 1.1 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.