Major Averages Close Firmly Negative On Broad Based Weakness

(RTTNews) - After moving mostly higher over the course of the previous week, stocks showed a notable move back to the downside during trading on Monday. With the drop on the day, the Dow pulled back well off last Friday's record closing high.

While most of the major sectors moved to the downside, gold stocks posted particularly steep losses on the day. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index plunged by 2.9 percent to its lowest closing level in over eight months.

NovaGold (NG) and Coeur Mining (CDE) turned in two of the gold sector's worst performances, tumbling by 9.6 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively.

Reflecting concerns about the outlook for demand from China, steel stocks also showed a substantial move to the downside. The NYSE Arca Steel Index plummeted by 2.7 percent to a nearly three-month closing low.

Significant weakness was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Spirit Airlines (SAVE) and JetBlue (JBLU) posted notable losses.

Housing, internet, networking, and oil service stocks also came under considerable selling pressure, reflecting the broad based weakness on Wall Street.

The major averages ended the day firmly in negative territory. The Dow fell 107.06 points or 0.6 percent to 17,172.68, the Nasdaq tumbled by 52.10 points or 1.1 percent to 4,527.69 and the S&P 500 slid 16.11 points or 0.8 percent to 1,994.29.