(RTTNews) - With traders expressing some uncertainty about the outlook for the impending earnings season, stocks have seen considerable volatility on Monday. Nonetheless, the major averages are all firmly in positive territory in late morning trading.

Banking stocks are turning in some of the best performances, resulting in a 4.2 percent gain by the S&P Banks Index. The strength in the sector is partly due to some positive comments from Meredith Whitney, who raised her rating on Goldman Sachs (GS) to Buy from Neutral.

Considerable strength has also emerged among electronic storage, real estate, and retail stocks. Within the retail sector, Best Buy (BBY) is currently up 3.6 percent after Oppenheimer upgraded its rating on the consumer electronics retailer to Outperform from Perform.

On the other hand, gold stocks continue to post notable losses amid a decrease by the price of the precious metal. Significant weakness also remains visible among healthcare provider, energy, and transportation stocks.

The major averages are currently hovering in positive territory, holding near their best levels of the day. The Dow is currently up 71.11 at 8,217.63, the Nasdaq is up 9.43 at 1,765.46 and the S&P 500 is up 7.60 at 886.73.

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Posted in Categories: Economy, Releases, USA.

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