Major Averages Fall To New Lows For The Session

(RTTNews) - Stocks have seen some further downside in afternoon trading on Thursday, dragging the major averages further into negative territory.

Currently, the major averages are just off their lows for the session. The Dow is down 209.25 points or 1.2 percent at 17,506.80, the Nasdaq is down 83.68 points or 1.7 percent at 4,837.04 and the S&P 500 is down 30.53 points or 1.5 percent at 2,036.13.

Concerns about the global economy continue to weigh on the markets along with a decrease by the price of crude oil.

Crude oil for May delivery has fallen $0.77 to $36.98 a barrel after soaring $1.86 to $37.75 a barrel in the previous session.

Brokerage stocks are seeing substantial weakness on the day, resulting in a 3.9 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index. The index is on pace to end the session at its lowest closing level in a month.

Oil service, banking, computer hardware, and biotechnology also remain under pressure, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

Meanwhile, gold stocks continue to buck the downtrend amid an increase in the price of the precious metal. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index has surged up by 3.1 percent.