YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks fought off moderate selling pressure in the early going to work their way toward new two-year highs. Buying was further bolstered by news that Egypt's president gave into calls for his resignation.

A buy-the-dip response helped stocks rally from a sell-off in the prior session. A positive bias came through again this morning as stocks quickly overcame a lower open to push into positive territory. The move gained momentum as Egyptian President Mubarak finally submitted to demands for his resignation, although it is still unclear how order and leadership in the country will be restored.

While stocks showed a positive reaction to the news, oil prices were pushed to a 1.4% loss at $85.55 per barrel. Many believe Mubarak's resignation will pacify protesters in Egypt and help mitigate risk of broader geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East and near the Suez Canal.

The tumble in oil prices undermined interest in the energy sector, which fell to a fractional loss. Utilities (-0.2%) made up the only other sector that settled in the red.

Financials outperformed by a wide margin. The sector advanced 1.4% with help from bank stocks, which collectively climbed 1.8%, according to the KBW Bank Index.

Large-cap tech also showed leadership. That helped the Nasdaq close near its session high. Microsoft (MSFT 27.25, -0.25) was a laggard, however, following news that the company has formed a business partnership with Nokia (NOK 9.36, -1.52).

Corporate announcements also included in-line earnings from Dow component Kraft (KFT 30.66, -0.45) and an upside surprise from Chipotle (CMG 268.73, +12.10). Other earnings reports received less attention from broad market participants.

The dollar added to its prior session bounce today. In the process it set a three-week high against competing currencies. Although it finished shy of its session high, the greenback's 0.2% gain helped to give the Dollar Index a 0.5% weekly gain.

Data had little sway with participants. The December trade deficit totaled $40.6 billion, which is essentially on par with the $40.4 billion deficit that had been estimated by economists who were surveyed by Briefing.com. However, the December deficit is greater than the $38.3 billion deficit reported for the prior month.

The preliminary consumer sentiment reading for February from the University of Michigan came in at 75.1, which isn't quite as strong as the 75.5 that had been widely expected. However, it is stronger than the 74.2 that was registered for the prior month.

Sellers put the pressure on commodities this afternoon. Their efforts led the CRB Commodity Index to a 0.6% loss.

Oil prices were a particularly heavy drag on the commodities space. The energy component settled with a 1.4% loss at $85.55 per barrel. Its push lower primarily came in response to news that Mubarak has resigned his position as the country's president, an event that many believe will pacify protesters in Egypt and help mitigate against the risk of broader geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East and near the Suez Canal.

Natural gas prices were hit even harder. Futures contract prices fell 1.9% to $3.91 per MMbtu.

Precious metals failed to go unscathed, even though the dollar handed back some of its gain in afternoon trade. Gold prices finished with a 0.4% loss at $1357.20 per ounce while silver prices settled 0.1% lower at $30.50 per ounce.

Advancing Sectors: Financial (+1.4%), Consumer Discretionary (+1.0%), Industrial (+0.7%), Telecom (0.7%), Materials (+0.5%), Consumer Staples (+0.5%), Tech (+0.3%), Health Care (+0.1%)
Unchanged: Energy
Declining Sectors: Utilities (-0.2%)DJ30 +43.97 NASDAQ +18.99 NQ100 +0.6% R2K +1.2% SP400 +1.0% SP500 +7.28 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1775/2.07 bln/841 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2233/995 mln/754