Major Averages Close Firmly In Negative Territory

(RTTNews) - After trending higher over the past several sessions, stocks gave back some ground during trading on Tuesday. The S&P 500 pulled back off yesterday's record closing high, although selling pressure remained relatively subdued.

Utilities stocks showed a notable move back to the downside on the day after moving sharply higher over the past several sessions. The Dow Jones Utilities Average tumbled by 2.1 percent, pulling back off yesterday's record closing high.

American Water Works (AWK), Duke Energy (DUK), and AES Corp. (AES) turned in some of the utilities sector's worst performances.

Significant weakness was also visible among natural gas stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index. Southwestern Energy (SWN) led the sector lower after announcing plans to increase capital spending in 2015.

Oil service also saw considerable weakness on the day, with the Philadelphia Oil Service Index falling by 1.5 percent even though the price of crude oil turned higher.

Meanwhile, gold stocks showed a substantial move to the upside, resulting in a 4 percent jump by the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index. The strength in the sector came as gold for February delivery surged up $18.50 to $1,200.40 an ounce.

Airline stocks also turned in a strong performance, driving the NYSE Arca Airline Index up by 1.3 percent to a new twelve-year closing high.

The major averages ended the day firmly in negative territory. The Dow fell 55.16 points or 0.3 percent to 17,983.07, the Nasdaq slid 29.47 points or 0.6 percent to 4,777.44 and the S&P 500 dropped 10.22 points or 0.5 percent to 2,080.35.