Late-Day Volatility Results In Mixed Close On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - After turning in a lackluster performance for much of the trading session on Thursday, stocks saw substantial volatility following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement. The choppy trading came on the heels of the strong upward move seen over the two previous sessions.

Despite the volatility shown by the broader markets, significant strength remained visible among airline stocks throughout the session. The NYSE Arca Airline Index surged up by 1.9 percent to its best closing level in almost a month.

United Continental (UAL) led the airline sector higher, jumping 6.2 percent amid indications the company will benefit from an extension of the United MileagePlus credit card program.

Gold stocks also ended the day notably higher after seeing early weakness, with the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index climbing by 2.5 percent. The gains by gold stocks came as the price of the precious metal spiked higher in electronic trading.

Biotechnology, utilities, and commercial real estate stocks also managed to finish the trading session firmly in positive territory.

On the other hand, financial stocks came under pressure late in the session, with the Dow Jones Banks Index tumbling by 2.4 percent and the NYSE Arca Broker/Dealer Index falling by 1.7 percent.

The major averages eventually ended the session on opposite sides of the unchanged line. While the Nasdaq crept up 4.71 points or 0.1 percent to 4,893.95, the Dow slid 65.21 points or 0.4 percent to 16,674.74 and the S&P 500 fell 5.11 points or 0.3 percent to 1,990.20.