Dow Stuck In The Red, Nasdaq And S&P 500 Firmly Positive

(RTTNews) - Stocks have moved mostly higher over the course of the trading day on Monday, extending the strong upward move that was seen last Friday. The major averages are currently turning in a mixed performance, however, with a steep drop by shares of IBM (IBM) weighing on the Dow.

A steep drop by IBM is helping to keep the Dow in negative territory, with the tech giant down by 6.8 percent after hitting its lowest intraday level in three years.

The sharp pullback by IBM comes after the company reported third quarter earnings that fell year-over-year and came in well below analyst estimates.

Meanwhile, airline stocks have shown a particularly strong move to the upside on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 2.1 percent. With the gain, the index is climbing further off the nearly eight-month closing low it set last Monday.

Southwest (LUV) and SkyWest (SKYW) are turning in two of the sector's best performances, jumping by 4.9 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively.

Significant strength also remains visible among housing stocks, as reflected by the 1.5 percent gain being posted by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. Lennox (LII) is leading the sector higher after reporting better than expected third quarter earnings.

Gold stocks have also moved notably higher over the course of the session, benefiting from an increase by the price of the precious metal. With gold for December delivery climbing $5.90 to $1,244.90 an ounce, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index is up by 1.2 percent.

Utilities, natural gas, and retail stocks are also seeing some strength on the day, while weakness is visible among railroad stocks.

While the Dow has climbed well off its worst levels of the day, the blue chip index remains down 26.22 points or 0.2 percent at 16,354.19. On the other hand, the Nasdaq is up 33.65 points or 0.8 percent at 4,292.09 and the S&P 500 is up 8.73 points or 0.5 percent at 1,895.49.