YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Slow news flow made for an uneventful day of trade that led the major equity averages to drift along in mixed fashion all session.

Market participants were provided few directional cues this morning, given that Europe's major bourses were closed for holiday observance and that there were only a handful of corporate-related items and earnings announcements, none of which were of much broad market concern. The economic calendar was only occupied by new home sales, which improved to an annualized rate of 300,000 units in March from a rate of 270,000 units in the prior month. The consensus among economists polled by Briefing.com had been pegged at an annualized rate of 280,000 units.

Stocks also lacked leadership today. For example, tech stocks made up the best performing sector, but they mustered a gain of merely 0.2%. Meanwhile, a 0.6% loss made energy stocks the worst performers. The energy sector's slide stemmed largely from a downturn in oil prices that led the commodity to close pit trade with fractional loss narrowly above $112 per barrel.

A climb in gold prices to a new record of $1519.20 per ounce before pulling back to close pit trade with only a fractional gain at $1510.60 per ounce helped the SPDR Gold Trust ETF (GLD 146.87, +0.13) set its own record high before it pared gains into the close. Meanwhile, a spike in silver prices toward $50 per ounce took the precious metal to its highest level in more than 30 years before it pulled back to close pit trade with a 3.3% gain at $47.56 per ounce. The pullback ate into the gains of the iShares Silver Trust ETF (SLV 45.83, +0.30), which set a new record high on record share volume today.

Overall share volume was paltry this session. In fact, fewer than 700 million shares traded hands on the NYSE. Such a low level of participation reflects the absence of trading catalysts today.

Commodities benefited from renewed buying interest this morning, but sentiment deteriorated as the session progressed.

Gold prices climbed to a new record of $1519.20 per ounce this morning, but retreated later in pit trade so that it closed with a fractional gain at $1510.60 per ounce. Silver settled with a 3.3% gain at $47.56 per ounce after it had been as high as $49.82 per ounce, which is its best level in more than 30 years.

Oil prices finished with a fractional loss at $112.17 per barrel after they had been comfortably above $113 per barrel in early pit trade. Although oil prices finished off of their highs, they also finished well above their session lows, which were set just above $111 per barrel.

Natural gas prices were unable to make a similar rebound. Instead, they turned lower just before the start of pit trade and never recovered. Contract prices closed the session with a 0.2% loss at $4.38 per MMBtu.

Advancing Sectors: Tech (+0.2%), Utilities (+0.1%), Health Care (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Materials (-0.7%), Energy (-0.6%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.3%), Industrials (-0.3%), Consumer Staples (-0.3%), Telecom (-0.2%), Financials (-0.9%)DJ30 -26.11 NASDAQ +5.72 NQ100 +0.3% R2K +0.2% SP400 -0.1% SP500 -2.13 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1185/1.49 bln/1401 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1379/695 mln/1640