Major Averages Continue To Post Modest Losses In Mid-Day Trading

(RTTNews) - After seeing initial weakness, stocks have fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Tuesday but largely maintained a negative bias. The choppy trading extends the lackluster performance seen in the previous session.

Transportation stocks continue to see considerable weakness in mid-day trading, resulting in a 2.5 percent drop by the Dow Jones Transportation Average. With the loss, the average is pulling back further off two-month closing high it set last Friday.

JetBlue (JBLU) has helped to lead the transportation sector lower, with the discount airline tumbling by 7.6 percent despite reporting better than expected third quarter earnings.

Significant weakness also remains visible among energy stocks, which are moving lower along with the price of crude oil. Crude for December delivery is currently sliding $0.90 to $43.08 a barrel.

Housing, steel, and computer hardware stocks are also under pressure, with Lexmark (LXK) leading the hardware sector lower after reporting a third quarter loss.

On the other hand, biotechnology stocks have shown a strong move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index up by 2 percent. Health insurance and drug stocks are also seeing notable strength.

Currently, the major averages are posting modest losses on the day. The Dow is down 39.72 points or 0.2 percent at 17,583.33, the Nasdaq is down 7.05 points or 0.1 percent at 5,027.65 and the S&P 500 is down 7.12 points or 0.3 percent at 2,064.06.