YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The major equity averages chopped along listlessly all session as big gains from the prior session were allowed to consolidate.

Stocks lacked direction from the start of trade. Many opted to take a breather after the S&P 500 surged 1.8% in the prior session to settle comfortably above key psychological levels that had not been seen since mid-2008. The lack of participation made for sluggish action and low share volume, which failed to surpass 1 billion shares on the NYSE.

Only a muted response was made to the latest ADP Employment Change, which indicated that 187,000 private payrolls were added in January. The consensus among economists polled by Briefing.com had called for 145,000 private payroll additions. Data for the prior month was revised downward to reflect 247,000 private payroll additions, which is the greatest increase since 2006.

The latest round of earnings was generally shrugged off by the broader market, but Electronic Arts (ERTS 18.09, +2.47) attracted attention with its bottom line beat and share repurchase plan. The stock soared to an eight-month high and helped lift the tech sector to a 0.3% gain; tech was the only sector to stage a gain.

Semiconductor stocks also offered support to the tech sector. Their collective 0.5% gain came despite disappointment over the latest results from Broadcom (BRCM 43.79, -2.60).

As for other announcements, Whirlpool (WHR 83.60, -1.82) and AFLAC (AFL 57.10, -1.43) missed consensus earnings calls, but Boston Scientific (BSX 6.85, -0.28) and Time Warner (TWX 35.10, +2.79) both exceeded expectations. Time Warner also announced an 11% dividend increase.

Financials fell to a 0.9% loss. They were the worst performing sector after they had staged one of the strongest moves in the prior session. Multi-line insurers were particularly weak today. Hartford Financial (HIG 27.93, -0.82) fell hard ahead of its quarterly report.

Outside of equities, the dollar caught a slight bid after it had set a two-month low in the prior session. It was up just 0.1% against a collection of competing currencies at the end of the trading day.

Treasuries failed to attract sustainable support. They had been up a bit in the early going, but inevitably fell. The retreat resulted in a 3.50% yield on the benchmark 10-year Note for the first time since December and a 30-year Bond yield of 4.65%, which is its highest level since April. Selling among Treasuries accelerated after it was learned that dealers had wanted to sell more than six times the amount of issues that the Fed was willing to buy back. Pressure eased into the close, though.

The CRB Commodity Index advanced another 0.5% this session. That puts the Index at a new two-year high.

Cotton futures continued their dramatic climb. Future contracts closed with cotton priced 2.3% higher at $1.762 per pound. Meanwhile, sugar futures climbed 4.0% to hit $0.35 per pound, a level not seen since 1980.

Among metals, gold prices fell 0.6% to $1331.70 per ounce as silver slid 0.9% to $28.25 per ounce. Copper remained near record highs as it eked out a fractional gain to settle pit trade at $4.55 per pound.

Oil prices oscillated for the entire session, but they settled with a 0.3% gain at $91.03 per barrel. Little reaction was made to news that weekly oil inventory data showed a slightly larger-than-expected build of 2.59 million barrels. As for natural gas, it settled pit trade with a 2.0% gain at $4.43 per MMBtu.

Advancing Sectors: Tech (+0.3%)
Unchanged: Energy
Declining Sectors: Financials (-0.9%), Utilities (-0.5%), Telecom (-0.5%), Consumer Staples (-0.4%), Health Care (-0.4%), Materials (-0.3%), Industrials (-0.3%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.2%) DJ30 +1.81 NASDAQ -1.63 NQ100 -0.2% R2K -0.3% SP400 -0.2% SP500 -3.56 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1142/2.03 bln/1462 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1391/934 mln/1571