Major Averages Close Firmly Negative But Off Their Worst Levels

(RTTNews) - Partly offsetting the strong upward move seen over the past several sessions, stocks moved sharply lower during trading on Friday. Worries about the situation in Ukraine weighed on the markets along with some disappointing earnings news.

While most of the major sectors moved to the downside on the day, substantial weakness was visible among semiconductor stocks. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index plummeted by 3.3 percent, giving back ground after trending higher over the past two weeks.

Freescale Semiconductor (FSL) helped lead the semiconductor sector lower, with the chipmaker tumbling by 13.8 percent despite reporting better than expected first quarter results.

Biotechnology stocks also came under considerable selling pressure, dragging the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index down by 3.4 percent. Share of ImmunoGen (IMGN) fell sharply after the biotech company reported a wider than expected first quarter loss.

Significant weakness also emerged among networking stocks, as reflected by the 2.4 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Networking Index. Infinera (INFN) and Ciena (CIEN) turned in two of the sector's worst performances on the day.

Airline, electronic storage, housing, and retail stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, while gold stocks bucked the downtrend amid an increase by the price of the precious metal.

The major averages ended the day firmly in negative territory but off their lows for the session. The Dow tumbled 140.19 points or 0.9 percent to 16,361.46, the Nasdaq plunged 72.78 points or 1.8 percent to 4,075.56 and the S&P 500 slid 15.21 points or 0.8 percent to 1,863.40.

With the losses on the day, the major averages moved modestly lower for the week. The Nasdaq fell by 0.5 percent, while the Dow and the S&P 500 dipped by 0.3 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.