Major Averages Close Moderately Lower But Well Off Worst Levels

(RTTNews) - While selling pressure was relatively subdued compared to the previous session, stocks moved mostly lower during trading on Friday. The losses on the day extended yesterday's sell-off, with the Dow and the S&P 500 falling to two-month closing lows.

After helping to lead the markets lower in the previous session, networking stocks showed another notable move to the downside. The NYSE Arca Networking Index tumbled 1.9 percent to a seven-month closing low.

Within the networking sector, Arris Group (ARRS) plunged by 14.3 percent despite reporting better than expected second quarter results and providing upbeat guidance.

Significant weakness was also visible among banking stocks, as reflected by the 1.5 percent loss posted by the Dow Jones Banks Index. Financial giant JP Morgan (JPM) turned in one of the sector's worst performances, falling by 2.1 percent.

Computer hardware stocks also added to yesterday's steep losses, with the NYSE Arca Computer Hardware Index falling by 1.1 percent. With the loss, the index pulled back further off the record closing high it set on Wednesday.

Telecom, software, and brokerage stocks also saw continued weakness on the day, while gold stocks moved higher along with the price of the precious metal.

The major averages ended the day moderately lower but well off their worst levels of the session. The Dow fell 69.93 points or 0.4 percent to 16,493.37, the Nasdaq slid 17.13 points or 0.4 percent to 4,352.64 and the S&P 500 dipped 5.52 points or 0.3 percent to 1,925.15.

For the week, the major averages all showed sharp moves to the downside. The Dow and the S&P 500 tumbled by 2.8 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively, while the Nasdaq slumped by 2.2 percent.