YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The major equity averages worked their way up from session lows, but still settled with losses on the order of 1%. Negativity was initially the result of weakness among Europe's bourses, but it was then exacerbated by news that S&P lowered its outlook on U.S. debt to negative.

Stocks opened trade sharply lower. The initial sell-off came as a culmination of concerns stemming from speculation about debt restructuring for less fiscally responsible eurozone nations like Greece, Ireland, and Portugal and news that analysts at S&P lowered their outlook on U.S. debt to Negative. The AAA rating currently held by the U.S. was affirmed, though.

Those headlines completely overshadowed the latest round of earnings results, which included upside earnings surprises from Citigroup (C 4.42, +0.00), Halliburton (HAL 47.14, +0.32), and Eli Lilly (LLY 35.62, -0.39). As has been the case since the start of earnings season one week ago, strong announcements didn't necessarily translate to gains, especially in the face of broad market selling interest.

At the depths of this session's slide, the Dow was down more than 200 points and the S&P 500 was down more than 20 points so that it traded below the 1300 line at 1295.

Stocks gradually worked their way higher in afternoon trade. There wasn't a single sector that made its way back to the flat line, but tech stocks and consumer staples stocks did the best job of limiting losses. Each sector finished with a loss of 0.7%. Tech's relative strength came even though only three stocks in the sector -- Akamai Tech (AKAM 39.73, +1.64), Apple (AAPL 331.85, +4.39), and Qualcomm (QCOM 53.29, +0.15) -- managed to make gains. Meanwhile, grocers propped up consumer staples stocks after Supervalu (SVU 10.67, +0.05) issued upside guidance.

News of the change to the U.S. debt outlook caused knee-jerk selling among Treasuries this morning, but their ability to rebound to solid gains suggested that the news was largely priced in.

The dollar was also dropped in morning trade, but it quickly reclaimed gains and then some. In turn, the Dollar Index climbed to a 0.9% gain. Most of the advance came against the euro, which was quoted 1.3% lower at $1.423 as of the close of today's trade.

Commodities finished the session mixed today, with gains (+2.2%) leading gainers and energy (-1.6%) leading all decliners.

Risk aversion, following S&P's outlook revision on the US earlier this morning, caused May crude oil to drop 2.3% to close at $107.12 per barrel. Crude oil spent most of the session chopping around near its lows. May natural gas shed 1.7% to close at $4.13 per MMBtu.

The outlook revision sent the precious metals higher today, in a flight to safety. June gold finished higher by 0.5% to $1492.90 per ounce, while May silver ended up 0.9% to $42.98 per ounce. Gold approached $1500, but came up just shy after notching highs at $1498.60, a fresh all-time high. Silver rallied to a new ~31 yr high at $43.56.

Despite the dollar's advance, precious metals were able to put together strong performances amid this session's volatility. Gold settled with a 0.5% gain at $1492.90 per ounce after it set a record high of $1498.60 per ounce. Silver settled 0.9% higher at $42.98 per ounce after it hit $43.56 per ounce, which is its highest level in more than 30 years.

Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Consumer Staples (-0.7%), Tech (-0.7%), Utilities (-0.9%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.9%), Health Care (-1.2%), Telecom (-1.3%), Materials (-1.3%), Industrials (-1.3%), Financials (-1.4%), Energy (-1.5%)DJ30 -140.24 NASDAQ -29.27 NQ100 -0.7% R2K -1.6% SP400 -1.7% SP500 -14.54 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 531/1.80 bln/2089 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 577/1.04 bln/2445