Major Averages Close Firmly In The Red But Well Off Worst Levels

(RTTNews) - Stocks came under considerable selling pressure in early trading on Tuesday and remained stuck firmly in the red throughout the trading session. The steep losses on the day more than offset the strength seen in the previous session.

Most of the major sectors moved to the downside on the day, with gold stocks particularly steep losses for the session. Reflecting the weakness in the gold sector, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index plunged by 5.5 percent.

The weakness among gold stocks came amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal, with gold for December delivery sliding $8 to $1,124.80 an ounce.

Steel stocks also saw substantial weakness amid concerns about the global demand, with the NYSE Arca Steel Index plummeting by 4.3 percent. Brazil's CSN (SID) and U.S. Steel (X) turned in two of the sector's worst performances.

Considerable weakness was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 3 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. The index pulled back further off the one-month highs set last Thursday.

Computer hardware, housing, and natural gas stocks also saw significant weakness, reflecting the broad based weakness on Wall Street.

The major averages ended the session sharply lower but well off their worst levels of the day. The Dow slumped 179.72 points or 1.1 percent to 16,330.47, the Nasdaq plunged 72.23 points or 1.5 percent to 4,756.72 and the S&P 500 tumbled 24.23 points or 1.2 percent to 1,942.74.