Major Averages Add To Last Week's Steep Losses

(RTTNews) - Stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Monday but maintained a negative bias before closing mostly lower. The drop on the day extended the downward move seen last week, which was the worst for the markets since 2012.

Gold stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 3.1 percent. The weakness in the gold sector came amid a modest decrease by the price of the precious metal.

Considerable weakness was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. With the loss, the index pulled back further off the eleven-year closing high set last Wednesday.

Brokerage stocks also came under significant selling pressure on the day, resulting in a 2.1 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index. The index also pulled back further off last Wednesday's five-year closing high.

Tobacco, biotechnology, software, and trucking stocks also showed notable moves to the downside over the course of the trading day.

The major averages all closed in the red, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq underperformed its counterparts. While the Nasdaq tumbled 44.56 points or 1.1 percent to 4,083.61, the Dow dipped 41.23 points or 0.3 percent to 15,837.88 and the S&P 500 slid 8.73 points or 0.5 percent to 1,781.56.