Stocks Remain Mostly Negative In Mid-Day Trading - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - While trading activity has remained somewhat subdued, stocks have moved mostly lower during trading on Monday. The pullback on the day comes on the heels of the upward move seen in the previous week.

Currently, the major averages remain firmly in negative territory. The Dow is down 104.06 points or 0.6 percent at 18,466.79, the Nasdaq is down 13.96 points or 0.3 percent at 5,086.21 and the S&P 500 is down 11.89 points or 0.6 percent at 2,163.14.

The weakness on Wall Street is partly due to profit taking, with traders cashing in on the strength seen over the past few weeks.

The gains seen last Friday lifted the S&P 500 to a new record closing high, while the Nasdaq reached its best closing level of 2016.

However, trading activity has remained light, as traders seem reluctant to make more significant moves amid a lack of major U.S. economic data.

Traders may also be looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's two-day monetary policy meeting scheduled to begin on Tuesday.

The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged as officials wait to see the fallout from Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

The central bank's accompanying statement is still likely to be in focus, as investors attempt to gauge the outlook for the next rate hike.

While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves, considerable weakness is visible among gold stocks. Reflecting the weakness in the sector, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index is down by 3.3 percent.

The weakness in the gold sector comes amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal, with gold for August delivery sliding $4.60 to $1,318.80 an ounce.

Energy stocks have also come under pressure, as the price of crude oil for September delivery is falling $1.06 to $43.13 a barrel.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a lackluster performance during trading on Monday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index edged down by less than a tenth of a percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Index inched up by 0.1 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets finished the day mixed. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index fell by 0.3 percent, the French CAC 40 Index crept up by 0.2 percent and the German DAX Index rose by 0.5 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are showing a lack of direction ahead of the Fed's monetary policy meeting. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is down by less than a basis point at 1.568 percent.