Major Average End Four-Day Winning Streak With Modest Losses

(RTTNews) - After showing a lack of direction throughout much of the session, stocks came under pressure in the latter part of the trading day on Wednesday and closed modestly lower. The pullback ended a four-day winning streak by the markets.

Despite the late-day pullback by the major averages, most of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves.

Gold stocks saw considerable weakness, however, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index dropping by 1.8 percent. With the loss, the index fell to its lowest closing level in well over four months.

The weakness among gold stocks came amid a continued decrease by the price of the precious metal, with gold for June delivery sliding $6.20 to $1,259.30 an ounce after plunging by more than $26 an ounce on Tuesday.

Steel, pharmaceutical, and tobacco stocks also saw some weakness on the day, while strength in the airline sector drove the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 1.4 percent to a twelve-year closing high.

The major averages ended the day in negative territory but off their lows for the session. The Dow dipped 42.32 points or 0.3 percent to 16,633.18, the Nasdaq slid 11.99 points or 0.3 percent to 4,225.07 and the S&P 500 edged down 2.13 points or 0.1 percent to 1,909.78.