Major Averages Holding On To Strong Gains After Early Rally

(RTTNews) - After moving sharply higher earlier in the session, stocks continue to turn in a strong performance in mid-day trading on Friday. The upward move on the day has partly offset the sharp pullback seen over the two previous sessions.

While most of the major sectors have moved to the upside on the day, gold stocks are posting particularly strong gains. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index has surged up by 4.7 percent to its best intraday level in a month.

The rally by gold stocks comes amid a sharp increase by the price of the precious metal, as gold for February delivery is jumping $25.40 to $1,086.60 an ounce.

Significant strength is also visible among financial stocks, with the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index and the KBW Bank Index both climbing by 1.5 percent.

Utilities stocks are also turning in a strong performance, resulting in a 1.1 percent gain by the Dow Jones Utilities Average. The average is bouncing off the nearly three-month closing low set in the previous session.

Commercial real estate, software, and airline stocks are also seeing considerable strength, while energy stocks have come under pressure amid a notable decrease by the price of crude oil.

In recent trading, the major averages have pulled back off their highs for the session, but they remain firmly positive. The Dow is up 225.42 points or 1.3 percent at 17,703.09, the Nasdaq is up 60.72 points or 1.2 percent at 5,098.24 and the S&P 500 is up 23.11 points or 1.1 percent at 2,072.73.