YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Natural resource plays led the broader market to another session of strong gains. Data had little sway with traders, though.

Buying abroad overnight and this morning helped bring buyers back into action after the prior session's slip. The stock market's ability to bounce right back from that loss was also indicative that a buy-the-dip mentality continues to permeate trade.

Positive responses to the latest quarterly results from Comcast (CMCSA 25.13, +0.97), Dell (DELL 15.56, +1.65), and Deere (DE 95.86, +2.24) also helped perpetuate an upbeat tone.

Other corporate news included word that Genzyme (GENZ 75.10, +0.80) has agreed to be purchased by Sanofi-Aventis (SNY 34.95, +0.46) for $74 per share plus a Contingent Value Right. That announcement overshadowed disappointing results from GENZ.

Shares of discount retailers benefited from a strong bid after Trian Group issued a proposal to acquire Family Dollar (FDO 53.54, +9.58) for a price in the range of $55 to $60 per share in cash. The specified range represents a premium of at least 25% over FDO's prior session closing price.

Energy stocks and materials stocks made up the two strongest performing sectors. They both snapped back from sizable losses in the prior session to record gains of 1.3% and 1.2%, respectively. Both sectors steadily outperformed for virtually all of the session.

At its session high, the S&P 500 was up 0.7%, but some mid-session selling slashed that gain to less than 0.2%. Pressure intensified around the same time that Reuters reported the planned presence of two Iranian warships in the Suez Canal. Concern about potential geopolitical implications of such a move were pushed aside, at least for now, so that stocks could gradually recoup most of their gains and settle at new two-year closing highs.

Market participants had a relatively muted response to minutes from the latest FOMC meeting, even though the record indicated that the Fed has raised its economic forecast and noted that risks to GDP growth have diminished.

As for data, producer prices for January increased by 0.8%, which is slightly greater than the 0.7% increase that had been generally expected among economists surveyed by Brieifng.com. Producer prices had increased 1.1% in the prior month. As for core producer prices, they increased a more tepid 0.5% month over month, but that is still sharper than the 0.2% increase that had been widely expected after a 0.2% increase in the prior month.

Housing starts for January had been expected, on average, among economists polled by Briefing.com to hit an annualized rate of 540,000, but instead they spiked 14.6% month over month to an annualized rate of 596,000. The surge makes for a sharp rebound from the downwardly revised 5.1% decline that was reported for the prior month.

Building permits for January dropped 10.4% from the prior month to an annualized rate of 562,000. After a 15.3% jump in the prior month, January building permits had been widely expected to come in at 575,000.

Industrial production for January was just posted. It fell 0.1%, which contrasts with the Briefing.com consensus call for a 0.6% increase.

Softs lead all commodities today, posting a 2.1% gain. May sugar rallied for 3.6% to finish at $0.2922 per pound, while May orange juice finished higher by 2.9% to $1.7115 per pound.

Late morning headlines that Iran is sending two warships through the Suez Canal and into the Mediterranean Sea, to Syria, sent a jolt through select commodity markets. The news reinforces the current geopolitical tumult going on in the Middle East. March crude oil finished up 0.8% to $84.99 per barrel. While prices initially spiked on the back of this news, they pulled back from session highs throughout the afternoon to end modestly better. It was an uneventful session for March natural gas, which closed off 1.5% to $3.92 per MMBtu.

April gold ended up 0.1% to $1375.10 per ounce, while March silver shed 0.2% to $30.63 per ounce. Both metals spiked, as the dollar index dropped, after the Iran news broke. However, neither metal was able to maintain its gains and pulled back to finish the day around unchanged.

Advancing Sectors: Energy (+1.3%), Materials (+1.2%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.8%), Tech (+0.8%), Financial (+0.6%), Health Care (+0.5%), Industrials (+0.4%), Consumer Staples (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Telecom (-0.3%), Utilities (-0.3%)DJ30 +61.53 NASDAQ +21.21 NQ100 +0.7% R2K +1.0% SP400 +0.7% SP500 +8.31 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1745/2.28 bln/904 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2256/926 mln/745