Major Averages Close In The Red Following Volatile Session

(RTTNews) - Stocks saw considerable volatility over the course of the trading day on Tuesday before ending the session firmly in the red. The drop pulled the Dow and the S&P 500 down off the nearly two-month closing highs set on Monday.

After trending higher in recent sessions, airline stocks showed a substantial pullback on the day. The NYSE Arca Airline Index plunged by 3.5 percent after ending the previous session at its best closing level in two months.

JetBlue (JBLU) posted a notable loss on the day after JP Morgan Chase downgraded its rating on the discount airline to Neutral from Overweight.

Considerable weakness also emerged among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 3.1 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. Cepheid (CPHD) and Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) posted steep losses.

Steel stocks also came under pressure over the course of the session, dragging the NYSE Arca Steel Index down by 2.2 percent. With the drop, the index pulled back further off the nearly two-month high set last Friday.

Trucking, pharmaceutical, and housing stocks also saw notable weakness, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

The major averages all closed in the red, although the Dow showed a relatively modest drop. While the Dow dipped 49.97 points or 0.3 percent to 17,081.89, the Nasdaq slid 42.03 points or 0.9 percent to 4,796.61 and the S&P 500 slumped 13.77 points or 0.7 percent to 2,003.69.