YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: For the first time in quite a while buyers failed to provide near-term support in the face of selling pressure. That left the S&P 500 to suffer its worst single-session slide in almost a month and close below its 50-day moving average for the first time in three weeks.

The tone of trade was initially weakened by a concerted selling effort among the major foreign averages, most of which suffered losses of at least 1%. Japan's Nikkei was one of the worst performers; it tumbled 1.7% following news that officials have increased Japan's nuclear crisis rating to the maximum level of 7.

Dow component Alcoa (AA 16.70, -1.07) gave market participants their first glimpse into earnings season, but apparently they didn't like the view. Even though Alcoa announced its fourth consecutive upside earnings surprise, a light revenue figure suggested softer demand than what Wall Street had wanted. Shares of AA recouped some of their losses, but still settled about 6% lower for one of their worst losses of the past year.

In contrast to the action of recent weeks, market participants refused to provide support to the broad market's early drop. Not even another drop in oil prices could stir support for stocks. Oil prices closed pit trade with a 3.3% loss at $106.25 per barrel. Selling against oil accelerated with news that analysts at Goldman Sachs predict that oil prices will see a substantial pullback in coming months. Just yesterday morning oil prices were above $113 per barrel to mark their highest level in more than two years.

The combination of sharply lower oil prices and broad market weakness led energy stocks to collectively lose 3.0%, which was the sector's worst single-session slide in one month.

Financials attracted buyers in the face of widespread weakness before they were backed down in the final hour of trade. The sector actually turned a loss of about 1% into a fractional gain, but settled with a 0.4% loss.

Treasuries were spurred higher amid the stock market's slide. Buying interest in that space was supported by a solid auction of 3-year Notes. The auction drew a bid-to-cover of 3.25, dollar demand of $104.0 billion, and an indirect bidder participation rate of 33.7%.

The dollar's doldrums continued today. In turn, the euro set a new one-year high of about $1.45. It was quoted with a 0.4% gain just below that level at session's end.

Commodities finished lower across the board today, led lower by a 3.5% sell off in grains. July wheat ended lower by 4.8% to $7.92 per bushel in profit taking from the grain's recent run to above $8.

May crude oil shed 3.3% to settle at $106.25 per barrel, extending its sell off to a second consecutive session. Crude oil has now shed over $6.50 (or 5.8%) from yesterday morning's ~2.5 yr highs at $113.46. Further headline risk shook out speculative money that recently pushed crude to those ~2.5 yr highs. It was an uneventful session for May natural gas, which finish near unchanged at $4.10 per MMBtu.

The sell-off in crude oil weighed on the precious metals, with June gold dropping 0.9% to $1453.60 per ounce and May silver shedding 1.4% to close at $40.06 per ounce. Neither metal was able to retrace is mid-morning sell off. DJ30 -125.78 NASDAQ -31.08 SP500 -11.69 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 714/1.4 bln/1890 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 774/656.3 mln/2201

Even though action today was more exciting than it has been in recent weeks, participation remains at unimpressive levels. More specifically, share volume on the NYSE failed to break 1 billion again.

Advancing Sectors: Consumer Staples (+0.3%)
Declining Sectors: Health Care (-0.1%), Utilities (-0.2%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.2%), Financials (-0.4%), Telecom (-0.6%), Industrials (-0.8%), Tech (-0.9%), Materials (-1.4%), Energy (-3.0%)DJ30 -117.53 NASDAQ -26.72 NQ100 -0.7% R2K -1.4% SP400 -1.% SP500 -10.30 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 638/1.82 bln/1989 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 756/946 mln/2225