Major Averages Close Slightly Lower, Well Off Worst Levels

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure in early trading, stocks staged a significant recovery over the course of the trading day on Thursday to end the day roughly flat. The major averages climbed well off their early lows, finishing the session just below the unchanged line.

The early weakness on Wall Street was partly due to renewed concerns about the economic outlook following the release of a Commerce Department report showing weaker than expected personal spending growth in the month of May.

However, the concerns about the economy waned over the course of the session, as the spending data was thought of as an outlier amid mostly positive reports.

Reflecting the recovery by the broader markets, most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves after coming under pressure in early trading.

While some weakness remained visible among electronic storage and tobacco stocks, the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index and the NYSE Arca Tobacco Index closed well off their worst levels of the day.

Meanwhile, gold, steel, and oil service stocks moved to the upside over the course of the session, contributing to the rebound.

While the Dow ended the session down 21.38 points or 0.1 percent to 16,846.13, the Nasdaq dipped 0.71 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 4,379.05 and the S&P 500 slipped 2.31 points or 0.1 percent to 1,957.22.