Major Averages Close Sharply Higher For The Year

(RTTNews) - After moving moderately higher in morning trading on Wednesday, stocks showed a significant downturn over the course of the trading session. While the pullback was exaggerated by light volume, the major averages showed a rather steep drop.

Utilities stocks showed a substantial move to the downside on the day, dragging the Dow Jones Utilities Average down by 1.8 percent. With the drop, the index pulled back further off the record closing high that it set on Monday.

Nonetheless, the utilities sector turned in one of the best performances on the year. The Dow Jones Utilities Average posted a yearly gain of 26 percent.

Significant weakness also emerged among commercial real estate stocks, as reflected by the 1.6 percent loss posted by the Morgan Stanley REIT Index. Omega Healthcare Investors (OHI) and Realty Income (O) posted notable losses.

Electronic storage, banking, networking, and chemical stocks also came under pressure on the day, moving lower along with most of the other major sectors.

The major averages saw further downside going into the close, ending the session near their worst levels of the day. The Dow tumbled 160.00 points or 0.9 percent to 17,823.07, the Nasdaq slid 41.39 points or 0.9 percent to 4,736.05 and the S&P 500 slumped 21.45 points or 1 percent to 2,058.90.

Despite the pullback on the day, the major averages all moved notably higher for the year. The Dow surged up by 7.5 percent, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 soared by 13.4 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively.