Major Averages Close Sharply Lower Despite Upbeat Data

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved substantially lower over the course of the trading day on Thursday, as early buying interest quickly faded. The sharp pullback on the day came as lingering overseas concerns overshadowed some upbeat U.S. economic data.

Most of the major sectors came under pressure over the course of the session, contributing to the steep drop by the broader markets.

Networking stocks turned in some of the market's worst performances on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Networking Index down by 2.6 percent. With the loss, the index ended the session at its worst closing level in over a month.

Within the networking sector, Infinera (INFN), Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) and Adtran (ADTN) posted particularly steep losses.

Substantial weakness also emerged among biotechnology stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. (ILMN) helped to lead the sector lower, tumbling by 5.7 percent.

Housing, semiconductor, and steel stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, reflecting the broad based selling pressure on Wall Street.

Meanwhile, gold stocks were among the few groups to buck the downtrend, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index jumping by 3.1 percent. The strength in the sector came amid a modest increase by the price of gold.

The major averages climbed off their worst levels going into the close but remained firmly in the red. The Dow plunged 231.19 points or 1.4 percent to 16,108.89, the Nasdaq plummeted 62.91 points or 1.5 percent to 4,260.42 and the S&P 500 tumbled 21.86 points or 1.2 percent to 1,846.34.