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

(RTTNews) - With disappointing economic data weighing on sentiment, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Monday. The pullback on the day partly offset the strength that was seen in the markets last week.

Gold stocks saw substantial weakness on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 4.5 percent. With the drop, the index ended the session at a twelve-year closing low.

The weakness among gold stocks came amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal, with gold for December delivery falling $5.70 to $1,089.40 an ounce.

Significant weakness was also visible among energy stocks, which came under pressure as the price of crude oil for September delivery plunged $1.95 to $45.17 a barrel.

Reflecting the weakness in the energy sector, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index tumbled by 3 percent, while the Philadelphia Oil Service Index and the NYSE Arca Oil & Gas Index both fell by 1.9 percent.

Computer hardware, railroad, and steel stocks also came under considerable selling pressure, while airline stocks bucked the downtrend.

The major averages regained some ground going into the close but still ended the day in the red. The Dow fell 91.66 points or 0.5 percent to 17,598.20, the Nasdaq dipped 12.90 points or 0.3 percent to 5,115.38 and the S&P 500 slid 5.80 points or 0.3 percent to 2,098.04.