Major Averages Finish Volatile Trading Day Modestly Lower

(RTTNews) - After moving mostly higher over the course of the two previous sessions, stocks saw considerable volatility during trading on Thursday. The major averages spent the session bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before closing modestly lower.

While many of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, substantial weakness was visible among gold stocks. Reflecting the weakness in the gold sector, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index tumbled by 2.5 percent.

The weakness among gold stocks came amid a modest decrease by the price of the precious metal, with gold for February delivery slipping $1 to $1,207.70 an ounce.

Railroad stocks also saw significant weakness on the day, dragging the Dow Jones Railroads Index down by 1.7 percent. The index has seen considerable volatility over the past few sessions after reaching a record high last week.

Notable weakness was also visible among natural gas stocks, as reflected by the 1.7 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index. A sharp drop by the price of natural gas contributed to the weakness in the sector.

On the other hand, airline stocks moved sharply higher on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 1.8 percent. With the gain, the index reached a new twelve-year closing high.

While the major averages ended the day in the red, they were well off their worst levels. The Dow dipped 12.52 points or 0.1 percent to 17,900.10, the Nasdaq edged down 5.04 points or 0.1 percent to 4,769.44 and the S&P 500 slipped 2.41 points or 0.1 percent to 2,071.92.