Major Averages Pull Back To New Lows For The Session

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure in early trading on Wednesday, stocks have seen further downside over the course of the trading session. With the drop on the day, the Dow is poised to end the session at a new six-month closing low.

A sell-off by energy stocks is contributing to the weakness being shown by the broader markets, with a steep drop by the price of crude oil weighing on the sector. Crude for September delivery is currently tumbling $1.79 to $40.83 a barrel.

The sharp pullback by the price of crude oil comes after a report from the Energy Information Administration said crude inventories unexpectedly jumped by 2.6 million barrels last week.

Substantial weakness also remains visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 3.4 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. With the drop, the index has fallen to a six-year intraday low.

Computer hardware stocks have also come under considerable selling pressure, dragging the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index down by 1.5 percent. The index is on pace to end the session at its worst closing level in well over a year.

Biotechnology, chemical, and airline stocks are also seeing significant weakness, while gold stocks are among the few groups bucking the downtrend amid an increase by the price of the precious metal.

The major averages have climbed off their worst levels in recent trading but remain firmly in the red. The Dow is down 200.72 points or 1.2 percent at 17,310.62, the Nasdaq is down 59.19 points or 1.2 percent at 5,000.16 and the S&P 500 is down 23.01 points or 1.1 percent at 2,073.91.