Major Averages Seeing Further Downside In Mid-Day Trading

(RTTNews) - Stocks have moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday after failing to sustain an initial move to the upside. The losses on the day are partly offsetting the strong upward move that was seen last Friday.

Housing stocks have shown a notable move to the downside following a disappointing report on homebuilder confidence, with the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index falling by 2.2 percent. The index is currently on pace to end the session at its lowest closing level in a month.

Hovnanian Enterprises (HOV) and M/I Homes (MHO) are turning in two of the housing sector's worst performances, falling by 6.4 percent and 5.6 percent, respectively.

Significant weakness is also visible among natural gas stocks, as reflected by the 2.1 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index. A drop by the price of natural gas is contributing to the weakness in the sector.

Electronic storage, retail, and healthcare stocks have also come under pressure, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

On the other hand, gold stocks have shown a strong move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index up by 4.4 percent. The strength in the sector comes as gold for February delivery is climbing $17.70 to $1,294.60 an ounce.

The major averages have seen some further downside in recent trading, hitting new lows for the session. The Dow is down 138.37 points or 0.8 percent at 17,373.20, the Nasdaq is down 26.75 points or 0.6 percent at 4,607.64 and the S&P 500 is down 12.53 points or 0.6 percent at 2,006.89.