Major Averages Climb Off Lows But Remain Firmly In The Red

(RTTNews) - Following the rally seen over the course of the two previous sessions, stocks have shown a significant move back to the downside during trading on Friday. With the pullback, the major averages have once again turned negative for the New Year.

Oil service stocks are turning in some of the market's worst performances amid a steep drop by the price of crude oil. Reflecting the weakness in the sector, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index is tumbling by 2.2 percent.

Within the oil service sector, Rowan (RDC) and Tidewater (TDW) are posting notable losses, falling by 3.7 percent and 3.5 percent, respectively.

Significant weakness also remains visible among brokerage stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index. The index is giving back ground after moving sharply higher in the two previous sessions.

Steel, banking, energy and airline stocks are also seeing notable weakness, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

Meanwhile, gold stocks continue to buck the downtrend, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index surging up by 2.8 percent. The strength in the sector comes as gold for February delivery is climbing $8.70 to $1,217.20 an ounce.

The major averages have recently climbed well off their worst levels of the day but remain firmly in the red. The Dow is down 150.95 points or 0.8 percent at 17,756.92, the Nasdaq is down 33.24 points or 0.7 percent at 4,702.95 and the S&P 500 is down 16.09 points or 0.8 percent at 2,046.05.