Major Averages Close In The Red After Seeing Strength For Much Of The Day

(RTTNews) - After seeing moderate strength for much of the session, stocks came under pressure going into the close of trading on Tuesday. The pullback on the day came on the heels of the rebound that was seen over the course of the previous session.

While many of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, significant weakness was visible among gold stocks. Reflecting the weakness in the gold sector, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index tumbled by 2.1 percent.

The weakness among gold stocks came amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal, with gold for June delivery sliding $8 to $1,210.60 an ounce.

Housing stocks also came under pressure over the course of the trading session, dragging the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index down by 1.7 percent. With the loss, the index pulled back further off the nearly eight-year closing high it set last Friday.

Commercial real estate and utilities stocks also moved to the downside on the day, while strength remained visible among steel and railroad stocks.

The major averages all closed in negative territory, although the Dow edged down only 5.43 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 17,875.42. The Nasdaq dipped 7.08 points or 0.1 percent to 4,910.23, while the S&P 500 slipped 4.29 points or 0.2 percent to 2,076.33.