Major Averages Remain Firmly Negative In Mid-Day Trading

(RTTNews) - After moving sharply lower early in the session, stocks continue to see considerable weakness in mid-day trading on Thursday. A negative reaction to the morning's barrage of economic data continues to weigh on the markets.

While most of the major sectors have moved to the downside on the day, networking stocks are seeing considerable weakness in mid-day trading. The NYSE Arca Networking Index is down by 2.6 percent, pulling back off the two-year closing high set on Wednesday.

Cisco has helped to lead the networking sector lower, although Ciena (CIEN) and Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) are also posting steep losses on the day.

Significant weakness has also emerged among healthcare provider stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent loss being posted by the Morgan Stanley Healthcare Provider Index. Community Health Systems (CYH) and Kindred Healthcare (KND) are turning in two of the sector's worst performances.

Commercial real estate stocks have also shown a substantial move to the downside, dragging the Morgan Stanley REIT Index down by 2 percent. The drop has pulled the index down to its lowest intraday level in well over a month.

Tobacco, semiconductor, steel, and software stocks are also posting notable losses, reflecting broad based weakness in the markets.

The major averages have recently climbed well off their worst levels of the day but remain firmly negative. The Dow is down 172.11 points or 1.1 percent at 15,165.55, the Nasdaq is down 46.88 points or 1.3 percent at 3,622.39 and the S&P 500 is down 18.52 points or 1.1 percent at 1,666.87.