Major Averages Close In The Red After Seeing Early Strength

(RTTNews) - After once again failing to sustain an early upward move, stocks turned lower over the course of the trading day on Thursday. While the Dow and the S&P 500 reached record intraday highs in early trading, the major averages all pulled back into negative territory.

Gold stocks showed a substantial move to the downside over the course of the trading day, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 3.6 percent. With the drop, the index ended the session at its lowest closing level in over two months.

The weakness among gold stocks came amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal, as gold for December delivery fell $3.80 to $1,266.50 an ounce.

Significant weakness also emerged among oil service stocks, which moved lower along with the price of crude oil. With crude for October delivery tumbling $1.09 to $94.45 a barrel, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index dropped by 1.9 percent.

Biotechnology stocks also came under pressure on the day, resulting in a 1.5 percent loss by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. The index pulled back further off the record closing high set on Tuesday.

Natural gas, networking, and computer hardware also saw notable weakness, while strength remained visible among trucking and retail stocks.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but remained stuck in the red. The Dow edged down 8.70 points or 0.1 percent to 17,069.58, the Nasdaq slipped 10.28 points or 0.2 percent to 4,562.29 and the S&P 500 dipped 3.07 points or 0.2 percent to 1,997.65.