Major Averages Close Firmly In Negative Territory

(RTTNews) - After initially showing a lack of direction, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The major averages added to the slim losses posted in the previous session, with the S&P 500 pulling back further off last Friday's record highs.

Networking stocks showed a significant move to the downside over the course of the trading day, dragging the NYSE Arca Networking Index down by 1.6 percent. With the loss, the index pulled back further off the twelve-year closing high it set last Thursday.

Juniper Networks (JNPR) and Adtran (ADTN) turned in two of the networking sector's worst performances, falling by 3.4 percent and 3.2 percent, respectively.

Considerable weakness also emerged among brokerage stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index. The index pulled back further off last Friday's nearly six-year closing high.

Oil service stocks also came under pressure on the day, moving lower along with the price of crude oil. With crude for April delivery sliding $1.09 to $100.03 a barrel, the Philadelphia Oil Service Index fell by 1.2 percent.

Biotechnology, defense, and banking stocks also saw notable weakness, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but remained firmly in the red. The Dow fell 67.43 points or 0.4 percent to 16,351.25, the Nasdaq slid 27.26 points or 0.6 percent to 4,307.19 and the S&P 500 dropped 9.54 points or 0.5 percent to 1,867.63.