Major Averages Turn Negative After Seeing Early Strength

(RTTNews) - After failing to sustain an initial upward move, stocks have moved mostly lower over the course of early trading on Monday. The major averages have pulled back well off their highs for the young session and into negative territory.

While bargain hunting helped to push stocks higher at the start of trading, buying interest waned not long after the open.

Lingering concerns about global economic growth and monetary policy divergence helped limit the upside for the markets and contributed to the subsequent pullback.

Biotechnology stocks have helped to lead the way lower, resulting in a 2 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. With the loss, the index has fallen to its lowest intraday level in over a month.

Significant weakness has also emerged among oil service stocks, as reflected by the 1.8 percent loss being posted by the Philadelphia Oil Service Index. The weakness in the sector come as crude for November delivery is falling $0.98 to $84.84 a barrel.

Natural gas, semiconductor, and healthcare stocks are also seeing early weakness, while strength is visible among steel and gold stocks.

In recent trading, the major averages have seen some further downside, hitting new lows for the session. The Dow is down 57.89 points to 0.4 percent at 16,486.21, the Nasdaq is down 37.25 points or 0.9 percent at 4,238.98 and the S&P 500 is down 11.13 points or 0.6 percent at 1,895.00.