Major Averages Close In The Red But Off Their Worst Level

(RTTNews) - After ending the previous session nearly unchanged, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading session on Wednesday. Renewed concerns about the outlook for the global economy weighed on the markets.

Pulling back further off their recent highs, airline stocks saw substantial weakness on the day. The NYSE Arca Airline Index tumbled by 2.3 percent, moving lower for the third consecutive session after setting a twelve-year closing high last Friday.

United Continental (UAL) and Hawaiian Holdings (HA) turned in two of the airline sector's worst performances, falling by 5.2 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively.

Considerable weakness was also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent loss posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. With the loss, the index pulled back further off Monday's three-month closing high.

Utilities, financial, and defense stocks also saw significant weakness on the day, while gold stocks bucked the downtrend amid a modest increase by the price of the precious metal.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels late in the day but still closed in the red. The Dow fell 102.04 points or 0.6 percent to 16,843.88, the Nasdaq edged down 6.06 points or 0.1 percent to 4,331.93 and the S&P 500 slid 6.90 points or 0.4 percent to 1,943.89.