Major Averages Close Firmly In The Red But Off Their Worst Levels

(RTTNews) - After ending the previous session nearly flat, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Friday. Uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates weighed on the markets ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting.

Reflecting the worries about higher rates, commercial real estate stocks turned in some of the market's worst performances on the day. The Morgan Stanley REIT Index plunged 3.2 percent to its lowest closing level in well over three months.

Health Care REIT (HCN) helped lead the sector lower after pricing an underwritten public offering of 15.5 million shares of common stock at $63.75 per share.

Significant weakness was also visible among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 2 percent loss posted by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The weakness in the sector came as crude for October delivery slid $0.56 to $92.27 a barrel.

Rate-sensitive utilities stocks also came under considerable selling pressure over the course of the session, dragging the Dow Jones Utilities Average down by 1.8 percent. NiSource (NI), Williams (WMB), and NextEra Energy (NEE) posted notable losses.

Natural gas, housing, and gold stocks also saw significant weakness on the day, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but remained stuck in the red. The Dow fell 61.49 points or 0.4 percent to 16,987.51, the Nasdaq dropped 24.21 points or 0.5 percent to 4,567.60 and the S&P 500 slid 11.91 points or 0.6 percent to 1,985.54.

With the losses on the day, the major averages all moved lower for the week. The Nasdaq edged down by 0.3 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 fell by 0.9 percent and 1.1 percent, respectively.