Major Averages Close Firmly Negative, Nasdaq Underperforms

(RTTNews) - After moving mostly lower over the course of the previous session, stocks saw further downside during trading on Tuesday. With the losses on the day, the Dow and the S&P 500 pulled back further off last week's record highs.

Technology stocks saw substantial weakness on the day, contributing to a particularly steep loss by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Within the tech sector, internet stocks turned in some of the worst performances, dragging the Dow Jones Internet Index down by 3 percent. The drop pulled the index down further off the three-month closing high it set last Thursday.

Twitter (TWTR) helped to lead the internet sector lower, with the social media giant extending the pullback seen over the past few sessions with a 7 percent loss.

Electronic storage and networking stocks also saw considerable weakness, with the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index and the NYSE Arca Networking Index tumbling by 2.6 percent and 2.2 percent, respectively.

Outside of the tech sector, brokerage, banking and defense stocks also saw notable weakness, while gold stocks bucked the downtrend by the broader markets.

The major averages all closed firmly in the red, although the tech-heavy Nasdaq underperformed its counterparts. While the Nasdaq plummeted 60.07 points or 1.4 percent to 4,391.46, the Dow dropped 117.59 points or 0.7 percent to 16,906.62 and the S&P 500 slid 13.94 points or 0.7 percent to 1,963.71.