Major Averages Climb Well Off Early Lows To Close Nearly Unchanged

(RTTNews) - Stocks showed a significant recovery over the course of the trading day on Monday after coming under pressure in early trading. The markets eventually ended the session roughly flat following the mixed performance that was seen last week.

Despite the recovery by the broader markets, significant weakness remained visible among housing stocks. The Philadelphia Housing Sector Index fell 1.4 percent to a two-month closing low on the heels of disappointing pending home sales data.

Ryland Group (RYL), Masco (MAS), and Hovnanian (HOV) turned in some of the housing sector's worst performances on the day.

Transportation stocks also saw significant weakness on the day, dragging the Dow Jones Transportation Average down by 1.1 percent. With the loss, the average pulled back further off the record closing high it set last Wednesday.

Meanwhile, utilities stocks showed a strong move to the upside over the course of the session, resulting in a 1.3 percent gain by the Dow Jones Utilities Average. American Electric Power (AEP) and PSEG (PEG) posted notable gains.

Most of the other major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, contributing to the roughly flat close by the broader markets.

The major averages finished the day on opposite sides of the unchanged line. While the Nasdaq edged down 4.65 points or 0.1 percent to 4,444.91, the Dow crept up 22.02 points or 0.1 percent to 16,982.59 and the S&P 500 inched up 0.57 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 1,978.91.