Major Averages Climb Well Off Lows But Still Close In The Red

(RTTNews) - After moving sharply lower at the start of trading on Monday, stocks regained some ground over the course of the trading session but still ended the day firmly in the red. The losses on the day came on the heels of the mixed performance seen last week.

Steel stocks saw significant weakness on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Steel Index down by 2.2 percent. With the drop, the index ended the session at a nearly two-month closing low.

Industry giant U.S. Steel (X) helped to lead the sector lower, tumbling 5.2 percent to its worst closing level in well over a month.

Considerable weakness was also visible among computer hardware stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index. Logitech (LOGI) and Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) posted notable losses.

Tobacco, airline, and software stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, while most of the other major sectors showed more modest moves to the downside.

The Dow ended the day down 107.67 points or 0.6 percent at 17,791.17 after falling as much as 200 points and hitting a two-month intraday low early in the session. The Nasdaq slid 21.13 points or 0.4 percent to 5,029.97, and the S&P 500 fell 9.68 points or 0.5 percent to 2,084.43.