Major Averages Close Firmly In Negative Territory - U.S. Commentary

(RTTNews) - Stocks moved notably lower over the course of the trading session on Wednesday after ending the previous session mostly higher.

The Dow fell 112.30 points or 0.5 percent to 23,329.46, the Nasdaq slid 34.54 points or 0.5 percent to 6,563.89 and the S&P 500 dropped 11.98 points or 0.5 percent to 2,557.15.

Profit taking contributed to the weakness on Wall Street after the Dow climbed to a new record closing high in the previous session.

On the U.S. economic front, orders for long-lasting manufacturing goods surged in September, according to new government statistics released Wednesday. The increase was more than economists had expected.

The U.S. Department of Commerce reported that durable goods orders rose by 2.2% in September. Economists had expected the figure to rise by 1.0%.

New home sales in the U.S. showed a substantial increase in the month of September, according to a separate report released by the Commerce Department.

The report said new home sales surged up by 18.9 percent to an annual rate of 667,000 in September from a revised rate of 561,000 in August.

Railroad stocks showed a significant move to the downside on the day, dragging the Dow Jones Railroads Index down by 2.4 percent.

Natural gas, electronic storage, airline and networking stocks also saw considerable weakness, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region turned in a mixed performance during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index fell by 0.5 percent, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed by 0.5 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets moved to the downside on the day. While the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index slumped by 1.1 percent, the German DAX Index and the French CAC 40 Index fell by 0.5 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively.

In the bond market, treasuries climbed off their worst levels of the day but still ended the day lower. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, rose by 3.8 basis points to 2.444 percent.