Nasdaq Falls Sharply On Tech Weakness, Dow Posts Modest Gain

(RTTNews) - Stocks largely turned in a lackluster performance during trading on Monday, as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later this week. Technology stocks saw significant weakness, however, resulting in a sharp drop by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Electronic storage stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the session, resulting in a 2.5 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Disk Drive Index. The pullback by the index came after it ended the previous session at a three-year closing high.

Within the storage sector, Seagate Technology (STX) posted a notable loss even though the disk drive maker raised its first quarter revenue guidance.

Considerable weakness was also visible among internet stocks, as reflected by the 2.3 percent loss posted by the Dow Jones Internet Index. Twitter (TWTR), Netflix (NFLX) and Facebook (FB) turned in some of the sector's worst performances.

Biotechnology, networking, and semiconductor stocks also came under significant selling pressure on the day, contributing to the steep loss being posted by the Nasdaq.

Outside of the tech sector, airline and tobacco stocks saw notable weakness, while energy stocks moved to the upside along with the price of crude oil.

The major average eventually ended the session mixed. While the Dow rose 43.63 points or 0.3 percent to 17,031.14, the Nasdaq tumbled 48.70 points or 1.1 percent to 4,518.90 and the S&P 500 edged down 1.41 points or 0.1 percent to 1,984.13.