WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Following the New Year's Day holiday on Thursday, stocks fluctuated over the course of the trading day on Friday before ending the session roughly flat. The lackluster performance came on the heels of the sharp pullback that was seen on Wednesday.
While most of the major sectors ended the day show only modest moves, considerable strength was visible among gold stocks. Reflecting the strength in the gold sector, the NYSE Arca Gold Bugs Index surged up by 2.3 percent.
The gains by gold stocks came amid a modest increase by the price of the precious metal, with gold for February delivery climbing $2.10 to $1,186.20 an ounce.
Commercial real estate stocks also turned in a strong performance on the day, driving the Morgan Stanley REIT Index up by 1.5 percent. Metaldyne Performance Group (MPG) helped to lead the sector higher, jumping by 10.7 percent.
On the other hand, steel stocks showed a notable move to the downside, resulting in a 1.1 percent drop by the NYSE Arca Steel Index. The weakness in the sector partly reflected the disappointing manufacturing data.
Tobacco, airline, and trucking stocks also saw some weakness but finished the session well off their worst levels of the day.
The major averages eventually ended the day on opposite sides of the unchanged line. The Dow inched up 9.92 points or 0.1 percent to 17,832.99, while the Nasdaq dipped 9.24 points or 0.2 percent to 4,726.81 and the S&P 500 edged down 0.70 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 2,058.20.
For the week, the major averages all moved to the downside. The Dow tumbled by 1.2 percent, while the Nasdaq and the S&P 500 dropped by 1.7 percent and 1.5 percent, respectively.
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