Major Averages Slid Firmly Into The Red In Early Trading

(RTTNews) - After moving modestly higher at the open, stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside over the course of early trading on Monday. The major averages have slid firmly into negative territory following the volatility seen last week.

The early weakness on Wall Street comes amid another sharp drop by the price of crude oil, which has fallen to its lowest levels in almost six years.

Crude for February delivery is currently plunging $2.05 to $46.31 a barrel after tumbling $4.33 or 8.2 percent to $48.36 a barrel last week.

The continued drop in oil prices reflects concerns about oversupply, which led analysts at Goldman Sachs to cut their three-month forecasts for the U.S. West Texas Intermediate contract to $41 from $70 a barrel.

Energy stocks are seeing considerable weakness amid the sharp drop in crude oil, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index and the NYSE Arca Oil & Gas Index plummeting by 4.1 percent and 2.8 percent, respectively.

Significant weakness has also emerged among steel stocks, as reflected by the 3.1 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. With the loss, the index has fallen to its lowest level in almost a month.

Electronic storage, semiconductor, railroad, and networking stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while gold stocks are bucking the downtrend amid an increase by the price of the precious metal.

In recent trading, the major averages have climbed off their worst levels, but they remain stuck in the red. The Dow is down 122.86 points or 0.7 percent at 17,614.51, the Nasdaq is down 41.70 points or 0.9 percent at 4,662.37 and the S&P 500 is down 18.42 points or 0.9 percent at 2,026.39.