Major Averages Posting Modest Gains In Mid-Day Trading

(RTTNews) - With traders digesting news of an agreement to halt Iran's nuclear program, stocks are seeing modest strength in mid-day trading on Monday. Buying interest has remained somewhat subdued, however, limiting the upside for the markets.

Airline stocks have shown a strong move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 1.6 percent. With the gain, the index has reached its best intraday level in ten years.

Republic Airways (RJET), Spirit Airlines (SAVE), and Hawaiian Holdings (HA) are turning in some of the airline sector's best performances.

Meanwhile, gold stocks are seeing considerable weakness on the day, resulting in a 2.9 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The drop extends a recent downward move by the index, which has fallen to a nearly five-year low.

Significant weakness is also visible among oil service stocks, which are moving lower along with the price of crude oil. With crude for January delivery sliding $0.82 to $94.02 a barrel, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index is down by 2 percent.

The major averages have moved roughly sideways in recent trading, holding on to slim gains. The Dow is up 29.96 points or 0.2 percent at 16,094.73, the Nasdaq is up 7.97 points or 0.2 percent at 3,999.62 and the S&P 500 is up 1.58 points or 0.1 percent at 1,806.34.