Major Averages Close At Their Worst Levels Of The Day

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved sharply lower over the course of the trading day on Tuesday, extending the notable downward move seen in the previous session. Worries about the impact of the ongoing government shutdown continued to weigh on the markets.

While most of the major sectors showed notable moves to the downside, biotechnology stocks posted particularly steep losses on the day. The NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index plunged by 4.6 percent to its lowest closing level in over a month.

Exact Sciences (EXAS) and InterMune (ITMN) turned in two of the biotech sector's worst performances, tumbling by 11.3 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively.

Substantial weakness was also visible among internet stocks, as reflected by the 3.2 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Internet Index. Facebook (FB), Monster Worldwide (MWW) and WebMD (WBMD) posted notable losses.

Gold stocks also saw considerable weakness on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index down by 3 percent. With the drop, the index set a two-month closing low.

Networking, airline, and housing stocks also came under significant selling pressure, reflecting the broad based weakness on Wall Street.

The major averages saw further downside going into the close, ending the session at their worst levels of the day. The Dow tumbled 159.71 points or 1.1 percent to 14,776.53, the Nasdaq plummeted 75.54 points or 2 percent to 3,694.83 and the S&P 500 plunged 20.67 points or 1.2 percent to 1,655.45.