Major Averages End Choppy Trading Day Roughly Flat

(RTTNews) - Stocks showed a lack of direction throughout much of the trading session on Wednesday after failing to sustain an initial upward move. The major averages spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

Many of the major sectors ended the day showing only modest moves, contributing to the lackluster close by the broader markets.

Railroad stocks showed a substantial move to the downside, however, with the Dow Jones Railroads Index tumbling by 2.6 percent. With the drop, the index fell to its lowest closing level in seven months.

The weakness among railroad stocks came on the heels of news of an Amtrak train derailment in Philadelphia that killed at least seven people.

Significant weakness was also visible among natural gas stocks, as reflected by the 1.1 percent loss posted by the NYSE Arca Natural Gas Index. The weakness in the sector came despite an increase by the price of natural gas.

Commercial real estate and utilities stocks also came under pressure on the day, while gold stocks moved sharply higher along with the price of the precious metal.

With gold for June delivery jumping $25.80 to $1,218.20 an ounce, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index surged up by 2.2 percent.

The major averages eventually ended the session roughly flat. While the Nasdaq inched up 5.50 points or 0.1 percent to 4,981.69, the Dow edged down 7.74 points or less than 0.1 percent to 18,060.49 and the S&P 500 slipped 0.64 points or less than 0.1 percent to 2,098.48.