Major Averages Turn Mixed After Seeing Early Upward Move

(RTTNews) - After failing to sustain an early upward move, stocks have given back some ground over the course of the trading day on Friday. The pullback by the markets comes as traders continue to cash in on the strong performance that was seen last year.

Despite the pullback by the broader markets, airline stocks continue to see significant strength in mid-day trading. The NYSE Arca Airline Index has surged up by 2.6 percent and is on pace to end the session at its best closing level in over a month.

Within the airline sector, shares of Delta (DAL) have jumped by 4.3 percent after the airline reported a 6.9 percent increase in December traffic.

Meanwhile, telecom stocks have come under pressure on the day, extending the downward move seen in the previous session. The NYSE Arca Telecom Index is down by 1.2 percent, pulling back further off the six-year high set on Tuesday.

Sprint (S) has helped to lead the telecom sector lower, tumbling by 4.8 percent after Stifel downgraded its rating on the company's stock to Sell from Hold.

Biotechnology and natural gas stocks have also moved to the downside, while most of the other major sectors are showing only modest moves.

While the Dow is clinging to a modest gain, the broader Nasdaq and S&P 500 have slid into negative territory. The Dow is up 6.75 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 16,448.10, while the Nasdaq is down 16.48 points or 0.4 percent at 4,126.58 and the S&P 500 is down 2.23 points or 0.1 percent at 1,829.75.