Major Averages Finish Volatile Trading Day Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - Stocks saw substantial volatility over the course of the trading session on Tuesday before ending the day notably lower. The losses on the day extended the downward trend shown by the markets over the past several sessions.

While most of the major sectors fluctuated over the course of the trading session, airline stocks saw significant weakness throughout the day. The NYSE Arca Airline Index subsequently tumbled by 3.5 percent to its lowest closing level in a month.

Brazil's GOL (GOL), Copa Holdings (CPA) and American Airlines (AAL) turned in some of the airline sector's worst performances.

Software stocks also moved sharply lower on the day, dragging the Dow Jones Software Index down by 2.1 percent. With the drop, the index fell to a nearly two-month closing low.

Considerable weakness was also visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The weakness in the sector came as gold for February delivery slid $13.40 to $1,194.30 an ounce.

Internet, electronic storage, and retail stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, while significant strength was visible among energy stocks.

The major averages saw further downside going into the close, finishing the session at their worst levels of the day. The Dow fell 111.97 points or 0.7 percent to 17,068.87, the Nasdaq tumbled 57.32 points or 1.2 percent to 4,547.83 and the S&P 500 slid 16.89 points or 0.9 percent to 1,972.74.