After moving modestly lower in early trading on Monday, stocks have shown a lack of direction over the course of the session. The choppy trading on Wall Street comes on the heels of a recent upward trend by the markets.
While most of the major sectors are showing only modest moves, considerable weakness is visible among gold stocks. Reflecting the weakness in the gold sector, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index has tumbled by 2 percent.
The weakness among gold stocks comes amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal, with gold for June delivery sliding $3.40 to $1,433.20 an ounce.
Steel and airline stocks have also come under pressure on the day, dragging the NYSE Arca Steel Index and the NYSE Arca Airline Index down by 1.3 percent and 1 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, biotechnology stocks have shown a strong move to the upside on the day, resulting in a 1.6 percent gain by the NYSE Arca Biotechnology Index. Strong gains by Sequenom (SQNM) and Nektar Therapeutics (NKTR) have helped lift the index to a record intraday high.
The major averages have turned mixed on the day, with the Dow stuck in negative territory. While the Dow is down 23.63 points or 0.2 percent at 15,094.86, the Nasdaq is up 5.00 points or 0.2 percent at 3,441.58 and the S&P 500 is up 0.41 points or less than a tenth of a percent at 1,634.11.
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