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Major Averages Slide Firmly Into The Red In Early Trading(Alliance News Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) WASHINGTON (Alliance News) - Stocks have moved mostly lower in early trading on Monday after opening the session near the unchanged line. The major averages have slid firmly into negative territory, with the S&P 500 pulling back further off last Thursday's record closing high. The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflects trepidation ahead of some potentially market-moving events later in the week. The Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday and the release of the Labor Department's monthly jobs report on Friday are likely to be two major focal points for the markets. However, traders are also likely to keep an eye on reports on second quarter GDP, manufacturing activity, consumer confidence, and personal income and spending. Negative sentiment was recently generated by the release of a report from the National Association of Realtors showing an unexpected drop in pending home sales in the month of June. Housing stocks have moved notably lower following the release of the data, dragging the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index down by 1.5%. The drop extends a recent pullback by the index, which has fallen to a two-month intraday low. Electronic storage, oil service, and semiconductor stocks have also come under pressure, while most of the other major sectors have shown more modest moves to the downside. In the past few minutes, the major averages have edged up off their lows for the young session, but they remain in the red. The Dow is down 67.34 points or 0.4% at 16,893.23, the Nasdaq is down 23.30 points or 0.5% at 4,426.27 and the S&P 500 is down 8.67 points or 0.4% at 1,969.67. Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX |