Major Averages Close Firmly In Negative Territory

(RTTNews) - With lawmakers continuing to struggle to reach an agreement to end the latest fiscal crisis, stocks moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday. The pullback on the day offset the upward move seen in the previous session.

Defense stocks showed a significant move to the downside on the day, dragging the Philadelphia Defense Sector Index down by 2.3 percent. With the loss, the index pulled back off the nearly one-month closing high set on Friday.

FLIR Systems (FLIR) helped to lead the defense sector lower, with the maker of thermal imaging systems plummeting by 13.8 percent after cutting its full-year guidance.

Considerable weakness was also visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 2 percent loss posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. KB Home (KBH) and D.R. Horton (DHI) turned in two of the sector's worst performances.

Networking stocks also came under significant selling pressure, resulting in a 1.9 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Networking Index. Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) fell by 4 percent after its CEO warned that the company could go out of business if it doesn't cut costs and jobs.

Utilities, health insurance, and computer hardware stocks also saw notable weakness on the day, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

Meanwhile, gold stocks bucked the downtrend by the broader markets, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index surging up by 3 percent. Steel stocks also saw some strength on the day.

The major averages ended the day firmly in negative territory, near their lows for the session. The Dow tumbled 133.25 points or 0.9 percent to 15,168.01, the Nasdaq slid 21.26 points or 0.6 percent to 3,794.01 and the S&P 500 slid 12.08 points or 0.7 percent to 1,698.06.