Stocks continue to see considerable weakness in mid-afternoon trading on Thursday following the release of a disappointing batch of U.S. economic data. The major averages are stuck firmly in negative territory, extending the downward move seen in recent weeks.
Much of the weakness on Wall Street stems from the release of a report from the Philadelphia Federal Reserve showing an unexpected contraction in regional manufacturing activity in the month of May.
Adding to the negative sentiment, a separate report from the Conference Board showed an unexpected drop by its leading economic indicators index in April.
Housing stocks are turning in some of the market's worst performances, resulting in a 4 percent loss by the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index. With the loss, the index has fallen to its worst intraday level in almost a month.
Considerable weakness is also visible among airline stocks, as reflected by the 3.3 percent loss being posted by the NYSE Arca Airline Index. Biotechnology, railroad, chemical, and real estate stocks are also posting steep losses amid broad based selling pressure.
Meanwhile, gold stocks continue to buck the downtrend, benefiting from a sharp increase by the price of gold. With gold for June delivery jumping $38.30 to $1,574.90 an ounce, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index is up by 4.4 percent.
The major averages are currently posting notable losses but are off their worst levels of the day. The Dow is down 82.46 points or 0.7 percent at 12,516.09, the Nasdaq is down 34.74 points or 1.2 percent at 2,839.30 and the S&P 500 is down 10.72 points or 0.8 percent at 1,314.07.
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