Major Averages Slide Firmly Into Negative Territory

(RTTNews) - After initially showing a lack of direction, stocks have moved notably lower over the course of the trading day on Monday. The drop on the day extends the downward move seen last week, which the worst for the markets since 2012.

Biotechnology stocks are seeing substantial weakness in mid-day trading, resulting in a 3.7 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. With the loss, the index is pulling back further off the record closing high that it set last Tuesday.

InterMune (ITMN), Pharmacyclics (PCYC), and Exact Sciences (EXAS) are turning in some of the biotech sector's worst performances.

Significant weakness has also emerged among airline stocks, as reflected by the 2.9 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. The index continues to pull back from last Wednesday's eleven-year closing high.

Brokerage stocks have also come under considerable selling pressure, dragging the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index down by 2.7 percent. With the drop, the index continues to pull back off the five-year closing high that it set last Wednesday.

Tobacco, gold, and housing stocks are also seeing notable weakness on the day, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

The major averages have seen some further downside in recent trading, hitting new lows for the session. The Dow is down 67.17 points or 0.4 percent at 15,811.94, the Nasdaq is down 67.59 points or 1.6 percent at 4,060.59 and the S&P 500 is down 14.28 points or 0.8 percent at 1,776.01.