YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The stock market spent most of the session stuck near the neutral line, but some late selling led to a lower finish. The emergence of support in the final hour helped moderate the loss, though.

There weren't many catalysts for trade this morning, so early participants took their cues from overseas markets. Although that helped the major averages open in higher ground, there wasn't much conviction behind the move. In turn, stocks returned to the flat line to trade listlessly, just as they had in previous sessions.

The tepid tone among market participants is partly owed to a cautious posture ahead of earnings season, which gets its unofficial start on Monday evening, when Dow component Alcoa (AA 17.92, -0.20) reports its latest quarterly results. Shares of AA actually set a 52-week high this morning, but retreated as the session progressed.

The stock market's recent struggle to break free from range bound trade also comes as the S&P 500 faces resistance in the 1340 zone, which has held all week. Such formidable resistance comes after the stock market climbed almost 7% from March lows into the start of April.

Stocks appeared as if they were about to break down in late afternoon trade. The selling effort was broad and actually took all three of the major equity averages to weekly lows, but in a recurring theme buyers stepped back in to provide support. That helped stocks limit their losses.

Outside of equities, commodities continued to climb at a torrid clip. Specifically, gold gained 1.0% to settle pit trade at $1474.40 per ounce. It set a new record high of 1476.20 per ounce. Silver spiked an even more impressive 2.7%, which took the precious metal to $40.62 per ounce. Prior to that, it set a 30-year high of $40.65 per ounce. Meanwhile, oil prices were pushed as high as $112.88 per barrel, which is a new two-year high, before they settled at $112.79 per barrel with a 2.3% gain.

Strength among commodities was augmented by the dollar's ongoing doldrums. It fell to a new 52-week low against the euro, which was quoted with a 1.2% loss at $1.447 at the close of trade.

Commodities closed out a strong week on a high note. The effort saw oil prices set a new two-year high, gold prices ascended to a record level, and silver prices set a 30-year best.

Specifically, gold gained 1.0% to settle pit trade at $1474.40 per ounce. It had been as high as 1476.20 per ounce, which marked its best level ever. Silver was up an even more impressive 2.7% to $40.62 per ounce, just shy of the 30-year high that it set at $40.65 per ounce earlier in the session.

Oil prices propelled to $112.79 per barrel, which made for a 2.3% gain. Prior to that, oil prices set a new two-year high of $112.88 per barrel.

Natural gas failed to follow the other commodities to higher ground. Rather, natural gas prices fell 0.4% to $4.04 per MMBtu.

Advancing Sectors: Energy (+0.4%), Telecom (+0.3%), Health Care (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Utilities (-0.2%), Consumer Staples (-0.3%), Consumer Staples (-0.3%), Materials (-0.6%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.6%), Tech (-0.6%), Financials (-0.9%)DJ30 -29.44 NASDAQ -15.72 NQ100 -0.5% R2K -1.0% SP400 -0.7% SP500 -5.34 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 797/1.65 bln/1801 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 987/821 mln/1945