YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks started the second quarter on a strong note as the Dow set a new bull market high on the back of a better-than-expected jobs report. Some late selling interest ate into gains, though.

Uncertainty ahead of the monthly payrolls report kept stocks stuck in a narrow trading range during the prior session, but the mood among traders improved markedly today. Initial buying interest was underpinned by strong gains among many of the major equity averages abroad, but the positive tone was further solidified by an encouraging payrolls report.

According to the latest data, nonfarm payrolls increased by 216,000 in March. Private payrolls increased by 230,000. The consensus call among economists polled by Briefing.com had called for respective increases of 185,000 and 203,000. The greater-than-expected increases helped the headline unemployment rate improve to 8.8% from 8.9% in the face of calls for it to remain unchanged.

The jobs report overshadowed the rest of today's data, which featured a March ISM Index reading of 61.2 and a 1.4% drop in construction spending for February. The ISM was in step with the 61.4 that had been broadly expected, but construction spending was widely anticipated to fall only 0.7%.

Participants responded to the jobs report with a steady, broad-based bid that took the S&P 500 to within a few points of its 52-week high. Meanwhile, the Dow climbed to its best level since June 2008.

However, stocks struggled to hold those levels in the face of a late flurry selling, which actually took the Nasdaq to the neutral line. The Nasdaq's late slip came as participants pressured semiconductor issues. Although renewed interest among buyers helped the tech-rich Nasdaq reclaim some of its gain, semiconductor stocks still settled with a 1.0% loss.

Financials offered leadership after they had lagged during the first part of the week. The sector's 0.8% gain was led by NYSE Euronext (NYX 39.60, +4.43) following news that Nasdaq OMX (NDAQ 28.23, +2.39) and IntercontinentalExchange (ICE 119.75, -3.79) offered to pay $42.50 per share in cash and stock to acquire the company. Deutsche Boerse already made a bid for the company, but the rival offer represents a premium of about 19% over the initial tender.

The financial sector's strength comes after it ended the first quarter with a gain of little more than 3%. That pales considerable to the 16% first quarter gain scored by the energy sector, which advanced a less impressive 0.4% this session. Energy's first quarter run was mostly helped by the rapid rise in oil prices, which actually extended their climb today by setting a new two-year high above $108 per barrel.

Trade in commodities was largely based on movement in the dollar, following this morning's NFP number. The dollar index sold off throughout the session to give back gains. Commodities finished mixed on the session, but the grains (+1.4%) sector was once again the leading sector. May corn rallied for 6.1%, following yesterday's 4.5% rally, helped by strength in crude and margin concerns.

May crude oil gained 1.1% to close at $107.94 per barrel. It traded to a fresh ~2.5 yr high, at $108.05, heading into the close of pit trade. May natural gas ended lower by 0.8% to $4.35 per MMBtu.

The pullback in the dollar index helped gold and silver recoup some of their losses. Both metals did finish in negative territory despite their bounce. June gold shed 0.7% to $1428.10 per ounce, while May silver closed down 0.4% to $37.73 per ounce.

Advancing Sectors: Industrials (+0.9%), Financials (+0.8%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.7%), Utilities (+0.7%), Health Care (+0.6%), Consumer Staples (+0.6%), Energy (+0.4%), Materials (+0.3%)
Declining Sectors: Tech (-0.1%), Telecom (-0.1%)DJ30 +56.99 NASDAQ +8.53 NQ100 +0.2% R2K +0.4% SP400 +0.8% SP500 +6.58 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1452/2.12 bln/1149 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2079/910 mln/923