Major Averages Recover From Early Weakness But Remain Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure in early trading on Thursday, stocks have regained some ground as the day has progressed but remain mostly negative. With the drop on the day, the major averages are adding to the losses posted in the previous session.

While most of the major sectors have recovered from their worst levels of the day, significant weakness remains visible among utilities stocks. The Dow Jones Utilities Average is down by 1.2 percent, pulling back further off the two-month closing high set on Tuesday.

Edison International (EIX), Dominion Resources (D), and FirstEnergy (FE) are turning in some of the utilities sector's worst performances.

Airline, pharmaceutical, and computer hardware stocks also continue to see some weakness on the day, although selling pressure has waned from earlier in the session.

On the other hand, natural gas stocks have shown a strong move to the upside, driving the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index up by 1.7 percent. The strength in the sector comes as natural gas for February delivery is climbing $0.150 to $2.364 per million BTUs.

Currently, the major averages are posting moderate losses on the day. The Dow is down 48.42 points or 0.3 percent at 17,555.45, the Nasdaq is down 16.14 points or 0.3 percent at 5,049.71 and the S&P 500 is down 4.87 points or 0.2 percent at 2,058.49.