Major Averages Remain Mixed In Mid-Day Trading

(RTTNews) - After ending the previous session mostly higher, stocks have shown a lack of direction throughout the trading day on Friday. Another mixed batch of U.S. economic data is contributing to the choppy trading on Wall Street.

While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves, considerable weakness remains visible among steel stocks. The NYSE Arca Steel Index has plunged by 2 percent, falling to its lowest intraday level in almost a month.

U.S. Steel (X) and Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) are turning in two of the steel sector's worst performances, tumbling by 4.3 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

Significant weakness has also emerged among electronic storage stocks, as reflected by the 1.5 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index. With the drop, the index is pulling back further off the nearly one-month closing high it set on Tuesday.

Gold stocks are also under pressure amid a notable decrease by the price of the precious metal, while utilities and commercial real estate stocks are seeing modest strength on the day.

Currently, the major averages continue to turn in a mixed performance. While the S&P 500 is up 1.22 points or 0.1 percent at 1,921.25, the Dow is down 20.02 points or 0.1 percent at 16,678.72 and the Nasdaq is down 1.02 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 4,246.93.