YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks overcame a sluggish start that stemmed from a negative response to news of a massive earthquake in Japan to book solid gains in the final session of the week, but the advance wasn't nearly enough to offset the prior session's precipitous drop.

Overseas markets sold off overnight and this morning following news of a massive earthquake in Japan. The earthquake prompted numerous tsunami warnings across the globe.

Although they maintained a defensive posture, early participants weren't willing to further penalize stocks after the near 2% drop that they booked yesterday amid a barrage of negative macro-related news items. That left stocks to spend the first couple of hours chopping along near the neutral line.

Energy stocks eventually emerged as a source of leadership. The sector slumped 3.6% in the prior session, but rebounded to a 1.6% gain today. The move came in the face of continued declines in oil prices. Oil actually fell as low as $99 per barrel in early electronic trade amid a knee-jerk response to news of the earthquake, but the energy component pared some of its loss to end pit trade at $101.13 per barrel, down 1.5% for the day.

Broader market support helped bring about a strong bid for semiconductor stocks. The group had entered the day with a week-to-date loss of almost 8%, but they ended the day with a 1.0% gain. National Semiconductor (NSM 14.70, +0.54) was a leader in the group after it reported its latest quarterly results, which featured only in-line earnings.

In other corporate news, Aeropostale (ARO 23.05, -1.58) posted a better-than-expected bottom line for its latest quarter, but issued downside guidance. That left the stock to suffer its worst single-session loss in three months. The rest of the retailer space advanced to a 0.8% gain.

As for data, the preliminary Consumer Sentiment Survey for March from the University of Michigan. The Survey came in at 68.2, which marked its worst reading in five months and was well short of the Briefing.com consensus call for 76.5. Some selling followed the number, but it had little lasting effect on trade.

Advance retail sales for February showed a 1.00% increase, which is spot on with the Briefing.com consensus call. Retail sales for January were revised upward to reflect a 0.7% increase. Excluding autos, retail sales increased by 0.7%, which is narrowly better than the 0.6% increase that had been expected, on average, among economists polled by Briefing.com.

January business inventories were just posted. They showed a 0.9% increase, which is slightly stronger than the 0.8% increase that had been broadly expected.

Precious metals overcame early weakness to finish the week in strong fashion. Specifically, gold prices were as low as $1404.80 per ounce in early morning electronic trade, but they settled pit trade with a 0.7% gain at $1421 per ounce. Meanwhile, silver prices were down as low as $34.07 per ounce before swinging settling pit trade with a 2.8% gain at $36.01 per ounce.

Natural gas prices also staged strong gains. The energy component closed the session with a 1.3% gain at $3.89 per MMBtu.

Oil prices spent the entire session in the red as they extended their downturn from the two-year high of nearly $107 per barrel that was set earlier this week. Oil prices finished today's pit trade with a 1.5% loss at $101.13 per barrel.

Advancing Sectors: Energy (+1.6%), Materials (+1.4%), Industrials (+1.2%), Financial (+0.8%), Tech (+0.6%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.5%), Utilities (+0.3%), Health Care (+0.3%)
Declining Sectors: Telecom (-0.6%), Consumer Staples (-0.1%)DJ30 +59.79 NASDAQ +14.59 NQ100 +0.7% R2K +0.4% SP400 +0.7% SP500 +9.17 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1374/1.86 bln/1234 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1925/921 mln/1023

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