Major Averages Plummet To Multi-Months Lows

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Friday, extending the sell-off that was seen in the previous session. With the steep losses on the day, all three major averages ended the session at multi-month closing lows.

Most of the major sectors showed significant moves to the downside on the day, reflecting the broad-based selling pressure on Wall Street.

Software stocks showed a particularly steep drop on the day, dragging the Dow Jones Software Index down by 4.2 percent. With the decrease, the index ended the session at its worst closing level in well over four months.

Intuit (INTU) helped to lead the software sector lower, with the tax software developer plummeting by 13.3 percent after reporting its quarterly results.

Considerable weakness was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 3.5 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. The drop pulled the index down to its lowest closing level in almost ten months.

Energy stocks also moved sharply lower along with the price of oil, while retail, internet, gold, and steel stocks also saw notable weakness.

The major averages saw further downside going into the close, ending the session at their worst levels of the day. The Dow plummeted 530.94 points or 3.1 percent to 16,459.75, the Nasdaq tumbled 171.45 points or 3.5 percent to 4,706.04, and the S&P 500 plunged 64.84 points or 3.2 percent to 1,970.89.