Major Averages Close Sharply Lower But Off Worst Levels Of The Day

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Friday, adding to the modest losses posted in the previous session. With the sell-off on the day, the markets partly offset the upward move seen over the past two weeks.

Most of the major sectors showed notable moves to the downside on the day, reflecting broad based weakness on Wall Street.

Internet stocks saw substantial weakness, dragging the Dow Jones Internet Index down by 2 percent. The pullback by the index came after it ended the previous session at a fourteen-year closing high.

Yahoo (YHOO), WebMD (WBMD), and Monster Worldwide (MWW) turned in some of the internet sector's worst performances.

Significant weakness was also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. With the loss, the index continued to give back ground after ending Wednesday's trading at its best closing level in over a month.

Oil service stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, resulting in a 1.4 percent drop by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The weakness in the sector came as crude oil for May delivery slid $0.97 to $55.74 a barrel.

Networking, software, retail, and banking stocks also moved notably lower, while modest strength was visible among railroad and gold stocks.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but remained stuck firmly in the red. The Dow plunged 279.47 points or 1.5 percent to 17,826.30, the Nasdaq plummeted 75.98 points or 1.5 percent to 4,931.81 and the S&P 500 tumbled 23.81 points or 1.1 percent to 2,081.18.

With the steep drop on the day, the major averages all moved lower for the week. The Dow and the Nasdaq both dropped by 1.3 percent, while the S&P 500 slid by 1 percent.