Major Averages End Choppy Trading Day Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - Stocks showed a lack of direction throughout the trading day on Thursday before ending the session modestly lower. While selling pressure was subdued, the losses on the day still ended the S&P 500's seven-day winning streak.

Gold stocks saw substantial weakness on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 5.7 percent. With the loss, the index fell to its lowest closing level in a month.

The weakness among gold stocks came amid a sharp drop by the price of the precious metal, with gold for December delivery tumbling $33.20 to $1,330.60 an ounce.

Considerable weakness was also visible among railroad stocks, as reflected by the 1.4 percent loss posted by the Dow Jones Railroads Index. The index pulled back off the one-month closing high set on Wednesday.

Steel, tobacco, and airline stocks also came under pressure on the session, while most of the other major sectors ended the day showing more modest moves to the downside.

The major averages moved to the downside going into the close, ending the day in the red. The Dow edged dipped 25.96 points or 0.2 percent to 15,300.63, the Nasdaq edged down 9.04 points or 0.2 percent to 3,715.97 and the S&P 500 slipped 5.71 points or 0.3 percent to 1,683.42.