Major Averages Climb Off Worst Levels But Remain In The Red

(RTTNews) - Stocks remain mostly negative in mid-day trading on Thursday after turning lower earlier in the session. Selling pressure has waned as the day has progressed, however, allowing the major averages to climb off their worst levels of the day.

Telecom stocks continue to see substantial weakness in mid-day trading, resulting in a 7.2 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Telecom Index. With the steep loss, the index has fallen to its lowest intraday level in a month.

Qualcomm (QCOM) has helped to lead the telecom sector lower, with the mobile chipmaker plunging 13.6 percent after providing disappointing first quarter guidance.

Considerable weakness also remains visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 4.2 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. Royal Gold (RGLD) is posting a steep loss after reporting weaker than expected first quarter results.

Steel, semiconductor, biotech, and oil service stocks also continue to see notable weakness, while most of the other major sectors are showing more modest moves.

Currently, the major averages are posting modest losses. The Dow is down 22.45 points or 0.1 percent at 17,845.13, the Nasdaq is down 19.42 points or 0.4 percent at 5,123.06 and the S&P 500 is down 2.99 points or 0.1 percent at 2,099.32.