Major Averages Recover From Initial Drop To Close Firmly Positive

(RTTNews) - After coming under pressure at the start of trading on Thursday, stocks staged a substantial turnaround over the course of the trading session. The rebound came as traders shrugged off a pair of disappointing economic reports as weather-related.

Gold stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, more than offsetting the pullback seen in the previous session. The NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index surged up by 3.7 percent, reaching its best closing level in over three months.

The rebound by gold stocks came amid an increase by the price of the precious metal, with gold for April delivery climbing $5.10 to $1,300.10 an ounce.

Significant strength also emerged among airline stocks, as reflected by the 1.3 percent gain posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Copa Holdings (CPA), the parent of Copa Airlines, helped lead the sector higher after reporting better than expected fourth quarter results.

Biotechnology stocks also saw considerable strength on the day, driving the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index up by 1.2 percent to a record closing high.

Tobacco, computer hardware, and utilities stocks also posted notable gains, moving higher along with most of the other major sectors.

The major averages moved roughly sideways going into the close, ending the session near their best levels of the day. The Dow rose 63.65 points or 0.4 percent to 16,027.59, the Nasdaq jumped 39.38 points or 0.9 percent to 4,240.67 and the S&P 500 climbed 10.57 points or 0.6 percent to 1,829.83.