[BRIEFING.COM] A lack of positive catalysts and a stronger dollar weighed on stocks for the entire session and helped hand the market a fractional loss for the week.

An earnings miss last evening from Dell (DELL 14.29, -1.58) had already put participants in a dour mood, while weakness in overseas markets also weighed on things -- Asia's major indices slid amid reports that policymakers are talking about the possibility of imposing capital controls, while Europe's bourses moved lower following discussions of withdrawing liquidity measures from European Central Bank (ECB) President Trichet.

The U.S. dollar finished with a gain of just over 0.4%, about half of what it had sported at its session high. Its strength proved burdensome for the broader market for the entire session, though there were a few advancers.

Pharmaceuticals were able to advance 1.2%. That helped the health care sector finish with a 0.6% gain. Utilities (+0.2%) and consumer staples (+0.1%) were the only other two sectors to advance.

Energy was the worst performing sector. It fell 0.9%, due to broader market pressure and a 0.8% drop in oil prices, which took oil to $76.83 per barrel.

Gold was able to break free from the grip of a stronger dollar, however. The yellow metal had been in negative ground in the early going, but settled with a 0.6% gain at $1148.40 per ounce.

Still, general weakness among stocks gave the S&P 500 its third straight loss and a weekly decline of 0.2%, its first of the month. Stocks are up roughly 1.1% month-to-date, though.

Advancing Sectors: Health Care (+0.6%), Utilities (+0.2%), Consumer Staples (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Energy (-0.9%), Tech (-0.6%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.6%), Financials (-0.6%), Industrials (-0.3%), Telecom (-0.2%), Materials (-0.1%)

[BRIEFING.COM] Oil spent virtually all of pit trade under pressure. That left it to close at $76.83 per barrel, down 0.8%.

Natural gas prices fared well, though. Contracts for the commodity closed at $4.43 each, up 2.0%.

Precious metals had a bit of a rough start, but were able to garner support in afternoon action. In turn, gold prices closed 0.6% higher at $1148.40 per ounce. Silver prices settled 1.5% higher at $18.49 per ounce.

The CRB Commodity Index is currently up 0.1%.

[BRIEFING.COM] After making their way to afternoon highs, stocks have started to roll over and head deeper into negative territory -- the turnabout has kept the Dow from getting back into positive territory, which it hasn't touched since the first few minutes of trade.

Energy stocks continue to hamper trade. The sector is down 1.2%, worse than any other major sector. Its downturn comes as drillers drop 3.6% amid broader market weakness and lower oil prices, which settled pit trade $0.63 lower at $76.83 per barrel.

[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks continue to trim their losses. That has taken the Dow within striking distance of positive territory. Still, its declining issues outnumber its advancers by slightly more than 2-to-1.

Though stocks are improving their position, current losses have stocks on track for a fractional week-to-date decline. That would be the first weekly downturn of the month.

[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks recently made a sudden, pronounced upturn that has put the major indices at their best level since late-morning trade. There aren't any immediate news items to account for the swing, but financials have exhibited particular strength. The sector is now up 0.4% after being down as much as 1.0%.

Diversified financial services stocks (+0.2%) are providing leadership to the sector. As such, Bank of America (BAC 16.15, +0.07) is sporting a solid gain. Meanwhile, insurer Aflac (AFL 44.32, +0.48) is sporting a nice gain of its own; the stock was recently upgraded by analysts at Morgan Stanley.

[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks have entered into a rather narrow trading range, which has been established just above session lows.

Gold prices have made their way to positive ground, though. Prices for the yellow metal was last quoted 0.2% higher near $1144.50 per ounce. The advance comes in the face of a 0.6% gain by the Dollar Index.

Trading volume has been rather high today, but that's largely due to the expiration of options at the close.

[BRIEFING.COM] The major indices are trading lower at midday, near session lows that were reached around 11:30ET. Overall it has been a slow session with no economic data and only a handful of earnings reports.

Losses are broad-based, with eight of the ten sectors in the red. Energy stocks are the worst performers, down 1.2% as crude prices slide 0.6% to $77 per barrel. Defensive sectors are outperforming, with healthcare (+0.3%) and utilities (+0.1%) both posting modest gains.

The tech sector is down 0.9% as Dell (DELL 14.29, -1.58) slides 10% following its disappointing earnings report. Dell reported earnings of $0.23 per share, missing the $0.28 consensus. As a result, shares are off 9.8%.

In other earnings news, Gap (GPS 21.65, -0.21) met earnings estimates, while JM Smucker (SJM 56.27, +2.79) topped estimates.

In currency trading, the Dollar Index is higher by 0.5%.

[BRIEFING.COM] The major indices trade slightly above recently reached lows.  Losses remain broad-based, with eight of the ten sectors in the red.

In Treasury trading, the 10-year and 30-year are currently flat.

[BRIEFING.COM] The S&P 500 recently came within close contact of last week's lows, but it has since rebounded to help moderate its losses. Still, weakness remains widespread as declining issues outnumber advancers by 4-to-1 in the broader market.

A pullback by the Dollar Index has also helped stocks improve their position. The Dollar Index has nearly halved recent gains; it is now up less than 0.5% this session.

[BRIEFING.COM] At the moment, health care is the only major sector to trade in positive territory. It is up 0.3%, thanks to strength in shares of pharmaceuticals (+0.9%), health care services (+0.5%), and health care distributors (+0.5%).

At the other end of the spectrum is the energy sector, which is down 1.3%. Its weakness comes from both broader market pressure and lower oil prices, which were last quoted at $76.55 per barrel, down 1.2%. The confluence of negative factors has been particularly troublesome for oil and gas drillers (-4.0%).

[BRIEFING.COM] Stocks have slipped another leg lower amid choppy trade. That has put the Dow and S&P 500 at fresh session lows. Meanwhile, the Nasdadq is in-line with the lows that it set earlier this morning.

Losses in the Nasdaq are steeper than those in the Dow or S&P 500, though. Most of that is attributable to weakness among semiconductors, which have extended their slide from the previous session by dropping 1.3% this session. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell more than 3% in the previous sesson as participants reacted to news that analysts at Merrill Lynch downgraded the space.

[BRIEFING.COM] The stock market opened modestly lower and has recovered around half of its losses in morning trade. Meanwhile, the US Dollar Index is slightly pulling back off of this morning's high.

Crude oil traded in positive territory for half of the overnight session before beginning to trend lower. This morning, crude put in session lows of $76.20 per barrel and after attempting to rally off those lows twice, crude is trading back near its low at $76.38, down 1.4%

Natural gas tracked crude overnight and put in its own lows of $4.22 per MMBtu after falling a quick $0.10. However, natural gas reversed quickly and recovered all of its losses and recently moved back near the unchanged line and is down $0.011 at $4.331 per MMBtu.

Despite this morning's strength in the US Dollar Index, gold moved back into positive territory in recent trading and off lows of $1132.50 per ounce. However, that move was short-lived as gold is 0.2% lower at $1139.30 per ounce. Silver put in lows at $18.035 per ounce and remains in negative territory at $18.30, down 0.8%.

[BRIEFING.COM] After attempting to pare opening losses and make a move toward the unchanged, stocks have fallen back under another fit of selling pressure. That has the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq at fresh morning lows. The Dow is also down, though to a lesser degree.

The Dow's ability to hold up stems from strength in shares of Merck (MRK 36.00, +0.67), which announced that one of its drugs has been recommended for approval by a committee under the European Medicines Agency.

Advancing Sectors: Consumer Staples (+0.3%), Health Care (+0.1%), Telecom (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Tech (-0.7%), Energy (-0.6%), Materials (-0.6%), Industrials (-0.5%), Financials (-0.4%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.3%), Utilities (-0.1%)

Early Movers: Trading up -- NLST +16.8%, DYAX +7.7%, KIRK +6.9%, ZUMZ +6.8%, VRGY +6.7%, DDS +6%, CYBX +5.6%; Trading down -- EFUT -28.8%, TYH -15.9%, EDC -15.1%, ADCT -12.5%, BGU -12.4%, TNA -12.2%, ERX -11.5%, CHRD -10.3%, TMV -9.8%, DRN -8.3%, DELL -8%, NVAX -7.7%

[BRIEFING.COM] Despite a weak start, stocks have managed to pare their opening losses. In turn, the Dow is flirting with a gain, while the broader S&P 500 is within striking distance of the neutral line.

The upward move off of session lows comes even though the dollar continues to trade with a health gain; the greenback is currently up 0.6% against a major basket of foreign currencies.

[BRIEFING.COM] Sellers were able to dog stocks for the entire session and hand the S&P 500 its worst single-session percentage loss of the month as buyers stepped to the sidelines amid a lack of positive catalysts. Buyers showed some mild interest late in the session and helped stocks make a couple of upward spurts, but the moves were quickly repressed.

Strength in the dollar kept many buyers at bay this session. The Dollar Index had been up as much as 0.7%, but settled with a gain of 0.3%. Though it settled off of session highs, its advance was enough to pressure both the equity market and commodities pits.

That blend of weakness proved troubling for energy stocks (-2.1%) and materials stocks (-1.5%). The two sectors traded with some of the worst losses of any major sector this session, but materials were able to improve their position late as gold prices rebounded to finish fractionally higher at $1141.90 per ounce.

Consumer staples stocks were able to maintain modest losses this session. The sector closed just 0.3% lower. Health care held up relatively well, too. The sector finished 0.5% lower following news that Senator Reid presented last evening a health care reform bill from the Senate.

Treasury Secretary Geithner appeared before the Joint Economic Committee on Financial Reform today. Geithner told Congress that the reform effort was essential for the health of the economy, but representatives were critical of Geithner.

Once again, data did little for stocks. Initial jobless claims for the week ending November 14 hit 505,000, which is in-line with what had been expected. The four-week moving average now stands at 514,000, down from 520,500. Meanwhile, continuing claims came in at 5.61 million, which is in step with what had been widely forecast.

In other economic news, leading economic indicators for October increased 0.3%, which is not as strong as the 0.4% that was expected. The Philadelphia Fed Survey for November came in at 16.7, which is better than the reading of 12.2 that had been widely forecast. Third quarter mortgage delinquencies hit 9.6%, which is up from the 9.2% that was registered in the second quarter.

On a similar note, the OECD said that U.S. GDP would likely grow 2.5% in 2010, while its collective 30-member nations would expand 1.9%.

Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Energy (-2.1%), Financials (-2.0%), Tech (-1.6%), Industrials (-1.5%), Materials (-1.5%), Utilities (-1.2%), Consumer Staples (-1.2%), Telecom (-0.7%), Health Care (-0.5%), Consumer Staples (-0.3%)