YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Soured sentiment amid ongoing headline risk caused stocks to set a new low for 2011. Although the market worked its way up from that point, it still suffered its seventh loss in nine sessions.

Market participants continue to grapple with threats of nuclear fallout in Japan and further instability surrounding the social and political turmoil in the Middle East and North Africa. Uncertainty regarding portfolio positioning amid those themes has made many become defensive, or even skittish.

Fret among investors became most apparent during an aggressive midday selling effort that dropped the S&P 500 to a new two-month low of 1249. The Volatility Index, often euphemistically dubbed the Fear Gauge, simultaneously spiked to its highest level since last summer.

Even though stocks logged another loss, the major averages were able to work their way off of session lows. Some participants continue to abide by the buy-the-dip philosophy that had frequently proven so successful in previous weeks.

While the dollar traded with strength amid losses in the stock market, the greenback actually lost ground against the yen. The Japanese currency actually hit 79.72 yen per dollar, which makes for its highest level in more than 15 years. Many pundits attribute the yen's strength to an unwind in the carry trade.

Data generally disappointed today. First on the list of releases is a housing starts report that showed a 22.5% drop in February to an annualized rate of 479,000 units, which is not only considerably less than the 575,000 units that had been forecasted, on average, by economists surveyed by Briefing.com, but also the slowest rate in almost two years. Building permits for February were also discouraging. They fell 8.2% from the prior month to an annualized rate of 517,000, which is less than the 573,000 that had been broadly expected.

Events in Japan continued to dominate the focus of the market, which included commodities. Headlines about the situation in Japan were around all day and those created volatility, especially in crude oil. April crude oil finished higher by 0.8% to $97.98 per barrel. Commentary from the EU Energy Chief, apparently taken out of context, pushed crude oil back toward the flat line. An AP story, however, reported that Tokyo Electric Power has almost completed a new power line that could restore electricity to the complex and solve the crisis that has threatened a meltdown. This report sent crude oil back toward the $99 area, where it remains in electronic trade. April natural gas finished near the unchanged mark at $3.94 per MMBtu.

April gold finished higher by +0.3% to $1396.10 per ounce, while May silver gained 0.6% to end at $34.47 per ounce. Both metals gave back most gains from earlier in the session after spending the afternoon session pulling back.

Excluding food and energy, producer prices for February increased by 0.2%, as had been expected among economists polled by Briefing.com. However, the headline PPI number spiked 1.6%, which is far more than the 0.6% that had been broadly expected. DJ30 -242.12 NASDAQ -50.51 NQ100 -2.5% R2K -1.2% SP400 -1.0% SP500 -24.99 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 730/2.58 bln/1899 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 703/1.46 bln/2323