Major Averages Close Near Their Worst Levels Of The Day

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure early in the session, stocks saw some further downside over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The losses on the day partly offset the strong upward move that was seen in the previous session.

Following the broad based strength seen in the previous session, most of the major sectors moved back to the downside on the day.

Biotechnology stocks posted particularly steep losses, dragging the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index down by 2.1 percent. Exact Sciences (EXAS) and Celgene (CELG) turned in two of the biotech sector's worst performances.

Significant weakness also emerged among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The weakness in the gold sector came as gold for June delivery dipped $2.10 to $1,183.20 an ounce.

Computer hardware stocks also came under pressure on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index down by 1.6 percent to a five-month moving closing low. Pharmaceutical, steel, and railroad stocks also saw notable weakness.

The major averages ended the session near their worst levels of the day. The Dow tumbled 200.19 points or 1.1 percent to 17,776.12, the Nasdaq slid 46.56 points or 0.9 percent to 4,900.88 and the S&P 500 dropped 18.35 points or 0.9 percent to 2,067.89.