Major Averages Close In The Red But Well Off Worst Levels

(RTTNews) - After initially showing a lack of direction, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Monday. Uncertainty ahead of this week's Federal Reserve monetary policy meeting contributed to the weakness in the markets.

Airline stocks showed a significant move to the downside over the course of the session, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 1.8 percent. The loss by the index came after it ended the previous session at a six-year closing high.

Alaska Air (ALK) and United Continental (UAL) turned in two of the airline sector's worst performances, falling by 4.8 percent and 3.9 percent, respectively.

Considerable weakness was also visible among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. Sequenom (SQNM) helped to lead the biotech sector lower, tumbling by 5 percent.

Gold, natural gas, and oil service stocks also came under pressure on the day, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

The major averages ended the day in negative territory but well off their lows for the session. The Dow dipped 36.86 points or 0.2 percent to 15,521.97, the Nasdaq slid 14.02 points or 0.4 percent to 3,599.14 and the S&P 500 fell 6.32 points or 0.4 percent to 1,685.33.