Major Averages Continue To Turn In A Mixed Performance

(RTTNews) - After ending the previous session mixed, stocks are turning in another lackluster performance during trading on Friday. The choppy trading on Wall Street comes despite the release of a relatively upbeat monthly jobs report.

Precious metal stocks are seeing considerable weakness in mid-day trading, dragging the Philadelphia Gold/Silver Sector Index down by 2.3 percent. Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) and Randgold (GOLD) are turning in two of the sector's worst performances.

A decrease by the price of gold is contributing to the weakness in the sector, with gold for April delivery sliding $13.10 to $1,338.70 an ounce.

Significant weakness is also visible among steel stocks, as reflected by the 2 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. The index is pulling back toward the one-month closing low it set on Monday.

Computer hardware and commercial real estate stocks have also come under pressure on the day, while most of the other major sectors are showing only modest moves.

The major averages are currently on opposite sides of the unchanged line, with the Dow posting a modest gain. The Dow is up 16.19 points or 0.1 percent at 16,438.08, while the Nasdaq is down 22.12 points or 0.5 percent at 4,330.01 and the S&P 500 is down 2.01 points or 0.1 percent at 1,875.02.