Major Averages Close In The Red But Well Off Early Lows

(RTTNews) - After moving sharply lower at the open, stocks showed a substantial recovery attempt over the course of the trading day on Monday. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 bounced well off the one-month intraday lows set in early trading but still closed in the red.

Most of the major sectors were able to recover from the initial sell-off, but steel stocks saw continued weakness amid concerns about Chinese demand. The NYSE Arca Steel Index tumbled by 2 percent to a six-month closing low.

Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) and Posco (PKX) turned in two of the steel sector's worst performances, falling by 5.6 percent and 4.2 percent, respectively.

Significant weakness also remained visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1.9 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. The drop extended a recent downward trend by the index, which fell to its worst closing level in well over a month.

Gold, brokerage, and oil stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, while natural gas stocks showed a strong move to the upside.

The major averages all posted modest losses on the day. The Dow dipped 41.93 points or 0.3 percent to 17,071.22, the Nasdaq edged down 6.34 points or 0.1 percent to 4,505.85, and the S&P 500 slipped 5.05 point or 0.3 percent to 1,977.80.