Major Averages Falling To New Lows For The Session

(RTTNews) - Stocks have moved mostly lower over the course of the trading day on Friday, extending the downward trend seen over the past few sessions. With the drop on the day, the Dow is pulling back toward the five-month lows set earlier this month.

Reflecting concerns about the outlook for Chinese demand, steel stocks have shown a significant move to the downside on the day. The NYSE Arca Steel Index has fallen by 2.5 percent to its lowest intraday level in well over six years.

Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF) and AK Steel (AKS) are turning in two of the steel sector's worst performances in mid-day trading.

Energy stocks have also come under pressure amid a modest decrease by the price of crude oil. Reflecting the weakness in the energy sector, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index and the Philadelphia Oil Service Index are down by 1.9 percent and 1.7 percent, respectively.

Significant weakness is also visible among gold stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The weakness in the sector comes as gold for August delivery is sliding $9.60 to $1,084.50 an ounce.

Biotechnology, chemical, health care and housing stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while some networking, internet and railroad stocks are posting strong gains.

The major averages have seen some further downside in recent trading, hitting new lows for the session. The Dow is down 91.40 points or 0.5 percent at 17,640.52, the Nasdaq is down 11.18 points or 0.2 percent at 5,135.23 and the S&P 500 is down 9.58 points or 0.5 percent at 2,092.57.