Major Averages Close In The Red But Well Off Lows

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Wednesday, extending the pullback seen in the previous session. With the losses over the past two days, the major averages offset the rally seen on Monday.

While many of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest weakness, airline stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on the day. Reflecting the weakness in the airline sector, the NYSE Arca Airline Index dropped by 2.2 percent.

The weakness in the airline sector came after Deutsche Bank downgraded its rating on Delta (DAL), United Continental (UAL), and American Airlines (AAL) to Hold from Buy.

Considerable weakness was also visible among health care stocks, as reflected by the 1.2 percent loss posted by the Dow Jones Health Care Index. PharMerica (PMC) and Universal Health Services (UHS) posted notable losses.

Biotechnology, steel, and trucking stocks also came under pressure on the day, while gold stocks moved sharply higher along with the price of the precious metal.

The major averages ended the day in negative territory but well off their lows for the session. The Dow slid 77.94 points or 0.4 percent to 17,698.18, the Nasdaq dropped 20.66 points or 0.4 percent to 4,880.23 and the S&P 500 fell 8.20 points or 0.4 percent to 2,059.69.