Major Averages Close Mixed For Fourth Straight Session

(RTTNews) - Stocks turned in a lackluster performance throughout the trading day on Wednesday, extending the trend seen over the past several sessions. The choppy trading came as traders digested another mixed batch of earnings news.

Despite the lackluster performance by the broader markets, airline stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day. The NYSE Arca Airline Index surged up by 2.3 percent to its best closing level in over eleven years.

Republic Airways (RJET) and JetBlue (JBLU) turned in two of the airline sector's best performances, advancing by 4 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

Natural gas stocks also saw considerable strength, driving the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index up by 1.7 percent to a record closing high. The strength in the sector came as the price of natural gas jumped by nearly 6 percent.

Housing, semiconductor, and railroad stocks also saw notable strength on the day, with Norfolk Southern (NSC) leading the railroad sector higher after reporting better than expected fourth quarter results.

Meanwhile, gold stocks came under significant selling pressure, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 2.8 percent. The weakness among gold stocks came amid a modest decrease by the price of the precious metal.

The major averages eventually closed mixed for the fourth consecutive session. While the Dow fell 41.10 points or 0.3 percent to 16,373.34, the Nasdaq rose 17.24 points or 0.4 percent to 4,243.00 and the S&P 500 inched up 1.06 points or 0.1 percent to 1,844.86.