Major Averages Close In The Red But Off Worst Levels Of The Day

(RTTNews) - After seeing moderate strength for much of the session, stocks pulled back rather sharply in afternoon trading on Wednesday. Renewed concerns about the outlook for the Federal Reserve's stimulus program weighed on the markets.

Gold stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 3.3 percent. With the drop, the index fell to its lowest closing level in over a month.

A notable decrease by the price of gold weighed on the sector, with gold for December delivery sliding $15.50 to $1,258 an ounce before seeing further downside in electronic trading.

Considerable weakness also emerged among utilities stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent loss posted by the Dow Jones Utilities Average. Within the sector, FirstEnergy (FE) tumbled 2.9 percent to a ten-year closing low.

Tobacco, commercial real estate, and telecom stocks also came under pressure, while strength remained visible among biotechnology stocks.

The major averages regained some ground going into the close but still ended the day in the red. The Dow fell 66.21 points or 0.4 percent to 15,900.82, the Nasdaq dipped 10.28 points or 0.3 percent to 3,921.27 and the S&P 500 slid 6.50 points or 0.4 percent to 1,781.37.