U.S. Stocks Mostly Lower As Trading Resumes Following Holiday

(RTTNews) - Following the mixed performance seen last week, stocks have moved mostly lower in morning trading on Tuesday. The major averages have all moved to the downside, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq showing a particularly steep drop.

In recent trading, the major averages have climbed off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq is down 146.58 points or 1.4 percent at 10,351.28, the S&P 500 is down 25.29 points or 0.7 percent at 3,819.53 and the Dow is down 72.94 points or 0.2 percent at 33,130.99.

The weakness on Wall Street may reflect lingering concerns about the economic outlook amid indications the Federal Reserve plans to continuing raising interest rates.

Trading activity remains relatively subdued, however, as some traders remain away from their desks following the long Christmas weekend.

A light economic calendar may also be keeping traders on the sidelines, although reports on pending home sales, weekly jobless claims and Chicago-area business activity may attract attention in the coming days.

Airline stocks have shown a substantial move to the downside amid continued flight cancellations due to the severe winter storm, dragging the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 2.5 percent.

Significant weakness is also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 1.9 percent drop by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

Biotechnology and software stocks are also seeing notable weakness, while gold stocks have moved sharply higher amid an increase by the price of the precious metal.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly higher on Tuesday, with several markets still closed for holidays. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index inched up by 0.2 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index jumped by 1.0 percent.

The major European markets have also moved to the upside on the day. While the U.K. markets remain closed, the German DAX Index is up by 0.3 percent and the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.7 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries are extending the downward trend seen over the past several sessions. As a result, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by 5.1 basis points at 3.802 percent.