S&P 500 Tumbles To Nearly Two-Month Closing Low

(RTTNews) - Stocks saw substantial weakness during trading on Friday, more than offsetting the moderate strength seen in the previous session. With the sharp pullback on the day, the S&P 500 fell to its lowest closing level in nearly two months.

The sell-off on Wall Street was largely due to a continued decrease by the price of crude oil, which has fallen sharply amid ongoing concerns about global oversupply.

Crude oil for January delivery tumbled $1.14 to end the day $35.62 a barrel, its worst closing level since February of 2009.

The continued decrease by the price of crude oil contributed to substantial weakness among energy stocks, which pulled back sharply after regaining some ground over the past couple sessions.

Reflecting the weakness in the energy sector, the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index plunged by 5.7 percent, while the NYSE Arca Oil & Gas Index and the Philadelphia Oil Service Index slumped by 3.6 percent and 2.9 percent, respectively.

Considerable weakness was also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 3.7 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. With the loss, the index fell to a two-month closing low.

Steel, brokerage, biotechnology, and chemical stocks also saw significant weakness on the day, reflecting broad based selling pressure on Wall Street.

The major averages ended the session near their worst levels of the day. The Dow slumped 309.54 points or 1.8 percent to 17,265.21, the Nasdaq plunged 111.71 points or 2.2 percent to 4,933.47 and the S&P 500 tumbled 39.86 points or 1.9 percent to 2,012.37.

For the week, the major averages all posted steep losses, the Dow plummeted by 3.3 percent, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 dove by 4.1 percent and 3.8 percent, respectively.