Major Averages Close Lower On The Day But Higher For The Week

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Friday, giving back some ground following the rally seen in the previous session. Selling pressure remained relatively subdued, however, limiting the downside for the markets.

Gold stocks showed a significant move to the downside over the course of the trading session, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 2.2 percent.

The weakness among gold stocks came even though the price of gold for August edged down only $0.10 to $1,201.90 an ounce.

Considerable weakness was also visible among oil service stocks, which moved lower along with the price of crude oil. With crude for July delivery falling $0.84 to $59.61 a barrel, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index dropped by 1.6 percent.

Steel, software, and utilities stocks also came under pressure on the day, while most of the other major sectors showed more modest moves to the downside.

Meanwhile, airline stocks turned in a strong performance, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 1 percent. SkyWest (SKYW) and American Airlines (AAL) posted notable gains.

The major averages ended the session near their worst levels of the day. The Dow slid 101.56 points or 0.6 percent to 18,014.28, the Nasdaq dipped 15.95 points or 0.3 percent to 5,117.00 and the S&P 500 fell 11.48 points or 0.5 percent to 2,109.76.

Despite the losses on the day, the major averages all moved higher for the week. While the Nasdaq jumped by 1.3 percent, the Dow and the S&P 500 advanced by 0.6 percent and 0.7 percent, respectively.