YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The major averages ended the last session of the holiday-shortened week with slim gains. The S&P 500 added 0.4%, and notched its highest close of all-time, eclipsing the previous record close set on October 9, 2007.

The day began on a rather uneventful note, but the flat open was followed by a brief stumble which sent the S&P 500 into negative territory after the latest reading of the Chicago PMI missed expectations.

For March, the Purchasing Managers' Index fell to 52.4 from the 56.8 reported in the February report. Meanwhile, the Briefing.com consensus had expected a smaller decline, to 56.5.

The subsequent weakness was quickly bought up, which enabled the benchmark average to spend the rest of the day in a steady upward climb.

Although equities settled with gains, today's advance was paced primarily by defensively-minded groups. Health care and utilities led the broader market for the duration of the session, and ended as the top performing sectors on the day.

Notably, the health care sector ended the month as the top performing group. Further, having gained 15.2% year-to-date, the sector is also the best performer so far in 2013.

Today's other outperformers included industrials and materials. However, their gains were largely the result of rebound trade after the growth-oriented groups saw some weakness over the past two weeks.

The SPDR Materials Select Sector ETF (XLB 39.18, +0.15) settled higher by 0.4%, but even with today's gain, the sector ETF ended the month as the second weakest performer, trailing only behind telecom services.

The weakness of the materials sector is indicative of the persisting growth concerns. These same worries are being reflected by the price of copper futures, which fell 1.1% to $3.405 per pound, to end the quarter at their lowest level since November of last year.

While materials found themselves near the lead, cyclical financials and technology ended as the weakest performers.

Major bank stocks remained under pressure since the first Cypriot bailout proposal was unveiled two weeks ago. Morgan Stanley (MS 21.98, -0.31) was the weakest performer among the majors and the SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF (XLF 18.21, +0.05) registered a slim gain of 0.3% in today's action. However, even with today's gain, the bank sector ETF is down 1.6% since last Monday.

Elsewhere, the technology sector was unable to climb too far above yesterday's close as Apple (AAPL 442.66, -9.42) weighed. The largest tech stock sold off steadily throughout the day before ending lower by 2.1% Also of note, BlackBerry (BBRY 14.44, -0.12) slipped 0.8% after beating on earnings on below-consensus revenue.

Reviewing the final sector performance, utilities (+1.3%), health care (+1.0%), industrials (+0.6%), and materials (+0.5%) led the way. On the downside, energy (-0.3%), financials (+0.2%), and technology (+0.3%) lagged.

Looking back at the day's economic data, the latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 357,000. This was higher than the 338,000 that had been expected by the Briefing.com consensus. Today's tally was also above the revised prior week count of 341,000. As for continuing claims, they fell to 3.050 million from 3.077 million. 

The third estimate of third quarter GDP showed growth of 0.4%, which was better than the 0.3% that had been expected by the Briefing.com consensus. Meanwhile, the third quarter GDP Deflator was revised up to 1.0%.

Note that equity and bond markets will be closed tomorrow in observance of Good Friday. However, a handful of economic data points will be reported on Friday. February personal income, personal spending and core PCE prices will all be reported at 8:30 ET. Lastly, the final March Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey will be released at 9:55 ET.

Week in Review: Cyprus Remains in Focus

On Monday, the major averages ended the headline-filled session with modest losses, and the S&P 500 settled lower by 0.3%. Equities began the day amid broad strength with the early gains coming after Cyprus and the Eurogroup agreed on the terms of a rescue package for the island nation. The early gains did not hold past the opening hour after Dutch Finance Minister and Eurogroup head Jeroen Dijsselbloem gave an interview to Reuters in which he explained how the Cypriot bank restructuring may be used as a template for future bailout talks. Growth-oriented sectors were responsible for the bulk of Monday's losses. The industrial space ended as the biggest laggard amid broad weakness. Machinery producers lagged throughout the day, and Caterpillar (CAT 86.97, +0.07) lost 0.9%.

Tuesday ended with firm gains and the S&P 500 settled higher by 0.8%. After starting the day on a positive note, the benchmark average spent the balance of the session in a six-point range. Energy was the only economically-sensitive group which settled among the leaders. Crude oil contributed to the sector strength as the energy component climbed 1.5% to $96.26. Meanwhile, the SPDR Energy Select Sector (XLE 79.31, -0.23) ended higher by 1.1%.

Wednesday's session saw the S&P 500 overcome early losses to close lower by 0.1%. The index began the session lower by 0.8% as European worries remained at the forefront. The future of the eurozone was questioned as market participants speculated whether or not the European Union will copy the Cypriot playbook next time a troubled nation is in need of emergency assistance. Bank stocks reflected the uncertainty surrounding the eurozone. While most sectors ended the session well off their lows, banks settled near the bottom of today's range. The SPDR Financial Select Sector ETF ended lower by 0.5% and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 47.46, -0.31) was the weakest performer among the majors. Shares of JPMorgan fell 1.8% to close below their 50-day moving average.DJ30 +52.38 NASDAQ +11.00 SP500 +6.34 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1375/1.54 bln/1081 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1869/887.8 mln/1135

3:30 pm :

• May crude oil got a boost from a weaker dollar index in today's floor trade. The energy component came off its session low of $96.38 per barrel set at pit trade open and broke into positive territory. It picked up momentum in afternoon action and settled 0.6% higher at $97.22 per barrel, slightly below its session high of $97.35 per barrel. Crude oil gained ~ 4.4% over the quarter.
• May natural gas popped into positive territory and to a session high of $4.11 per MMBtu on inventory data that showed a draw of 95 bcf when a draw of 89 bcf was expected. However, the move was short lived and prices fell back into the red. Natural gas dipped to a session low of $3.97 per MMBtu in early afternoon action and settled with a 1.2% loss at $4.02 per MMBtu. Still, natural gas gained ~ 16.5% over the quarter, getting support from recent lower-than-average temperatures.
• June gold traded lower today as banks reopened in Cyprus. The yellow metal popped to a session high of $1604.30 per ounce following initial claims and GDP data but quickly reversed. It trended lower for the remainder of floor trade and settled 0.7% lower at $1596.00 per ounce, bringing losses for the quarter to 5%.
• May silver also fell deeper into negative territory. It dipped to a session low of $28.17 per ounce in late afternoon action and settled with a 1.0% loss at $28.33 per ounce. For the quarter, silver fell ~ 6.4%.