Major Averages Climb Off Worst Levels But Remain Firmly Negative

(RTTNews) - On the heels of the rally seen in the previous session, stocks have given back some ground over the course of the trading day on Thursday. The losses on the day have partly offset the upward move seen over the three previous sessions.

Gold stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 6.7 percent. With the steep drop, the index has fallen to its lowest intraday level in almost a month.

The sell-off by gold stocks comes amid a sharp drop by the price of the precious metal, with gold for February delivery tumbling $23.40 to $1,053.40 an ounce.

Considerable weakness is also visible among energy stocks, which are moving lower along with the price of crude oil. Crude for January delivery is sliding $0.63 to $34.89 a barrel.

Reflecting the weakness in the energy sector, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index and the Philadelphia Oil Service Index are down by 3.5 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

Steel, telecom, railroad, and computer hardware stocks are also seeing notable weakness, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

In recent trading, the major averages have climbed off their worst levels, but they remain in the red. The Dow is down 141.44 points or 0.8 percent at 17,607.65, the Nasdaq is down 35.40 points or 0.7 percent at 5,035.73 and the S&P 500 is down 19.99 points or 1 percent at 2,053.08.