Major Averages Close Firmly Negative But Well Off Worst Levels

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure in early trading on Wednesday, stocks remained stuck in the red throughout the trading session. The losses on the day partly offset the strong gains posted over the past few sessions.

Semiconductor stocks saw significant weakness throughout the session, resulting in a 3.4 percent drop by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index. With the loss, the index pulled back further off the six-year highs set on Monday.

Cree (CREE) and Altera (ALTR) turned in two of the semiconductor sector's worst performances after providing disappointing guidance.

Notable weakness was also visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 3 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The weakness in the gold sector came as gold for December delivery slid $8.60 to $1,334 an ounce.

Computer hardware stocks also came under considerable selling pressure, dragging the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index down by 2.3 percent. Lexmark (LXK) and NetApp (NTAP) posted particularly steep losses.

Networking, oil service, and steel stocks also saw significant weakness on the day, while railroad and defense stocks showed strong moves to the upside.

The major averages ended the day firmly in negative territory but well off their worst levels. The Dow slid 54.33 points or 0.4 percent to 15,413.33, the Nasdaq fell 22.49 points or 0.6 percent to 3,907.07 and the S&P 500 dropped 8.29 points or 0.5 percent to 1,746.38.