Major Averages Give Back Ground But Remain Positive

(RTTNews) - Stocks remain mostly positive in mid-day trading on Monday, although buying interest has waned from earlier in the session. The gains on the day are extending the strong performance that was turned in by the markets last week.

Natural gas stocks are seeing considerable strength in mid-day trading, resulting in a 1.3 percent gain by the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index. An increase by the price of natural gas is contributing to the strength in the sector, with natural gas for August delivery is climbing $0.11 to $3,727 per million BTUs.

Significant strength is also visible among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 1.1 percent gain being posted by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The strength in the oil service sector comes despite a decrease by the price of crude oil.

Retail stocks are also turning in a strong performance on the day, driving the Dow Jones Retail Index up by 1 percent. With the gain, the index has risen to its best intraday level in over a month.

Meanwhile, semiconductor stocks have shown a notable move to the downside, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 1.6 percent. Intel (INTC) has helped to lead the sector lower following some disappointing analyst comments.

While the Nasdaq has pulled back near the unchanged line, the major averages currently remain in positive territory. The Nasdaq is up 1.35 points or less than 0.1 percent at 3,480.73, while the Dow is up 81.78 points or 0.5 percent at 15,217.62 and the S&P 500 is up 8.31 points or 0.5 percent at 1,640.20.