YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Equities settled with modest gains as the S&P 500 rose 0.5% to close at a new all-time high while the Dow notched its first close above 15,000.

Similar to yesterday, earnings shaped the early price action in the absence of notable economic data.

The energy sector charged out of the gate as EOG Resources (EOG 135.69, +9.65) displayed notable strength after beating on revenue. The growth-sensitive sector ended with a solid gain even as crude oil ended lower by 0.7% at $95.47.

Most other cyclical sectors finished ahead of the broader market and the Dow Jones Transportation Average outperformed as well. The bellwether complex advanced 1.6% to a fresh record high as 18 of 20 components settled in the black.

Interestingly, the technology space began the day in-line with the broader market before late morning weakness in large components caused the sector to slip into the red. Apple (AAPL 458.66, -2.05), Cisco (CSCO 20.38, -0.43), and Microsoft (MSFT 33.31, -0.44) all lost between 0.5% and 2.1%.

The technology sector also pressured the Nasdaq, which was unable to climb above its morning highs.

Today's underperformance of the Nasdaq was notable as the index had led stocks higher for more than two weeks. Entering today, the index gained 7.1% since April 19 while the S&P 500 added 4.9% over that time.

Also contributing to the Nasdaq weakness was biotechnology, which lagged after Perrigo (PRGO 116.29, -2.55) missed on earnings and revenue. The broader iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 174.52, -1.43) ended lower by 0.8%.

The underperformance of biotech names weighed on the health care sector, which settled with a gain of 0.3%. Meanwhile, other defensive sectors outperformed the broader market and the telecom space ended in the lead.

In the Treasury market, the 10-yr note sold off steadily throughout the day with its yield climbing two basis points to 1.783%.

Even though today's session ended on a positive note, the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX 12.91, +0.25) climbed suggesting a certain measure of downside protection was in demand.

Today's volume was below average as 636 million shares changed hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Consumer credit increased by $8.0 billion in March. That was down from an upwardly revised $18.6 billion (from $18.1 billion) in February. The Briefing.com consensus expected consumer credit to increase by $16.3 billion.

That was the first time since September 2012 that consumer credit did not increase by at least $10.0 billion.

Tomorrow, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be reported at 7:00 ET.DJ30 +87.31 NASDAQ +3.66 SP500 +8.46 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1541/1.65 bln/930 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2307/636.6 mln/747

3:30 pm :

• June crude oil fell for the first time in four sessions ahead of tomorrow's inventory data. The energy component advanced to a session high of $96.26 per barrel but quickly reversed and slid to a session low of $94.92 per barrel. Despite trending slightly higher for the remainder floor trade, it settled with a 0.5% loss at $95.62 per barrel.
• June natural gas extended yesterday's losses as it pulled back from its session high of $4.00 per MMBtu set in morning floor trade. It continued to trend lower and settled with a 2.2% loss at its session low of $3.92 per MMBtu.
• June gold spent its entire floor session in the red, falling as low as $1440.40 per ounce in morning action. The yellow metal fell despite early weakness in the dollar index. Unable to gain much momentum, it settled at $1449.00 per ounce, or 1.3% lower.
• July silver also traded in negative territory today, but unlike gold, it was able to erase most of its earlier losses. It lifted off its session low of $23.40 per ounce set in morning floor trade and advanced to the unchanged line in afternoon action. It eventually settled 0.6% lower at $23.81 per ounce.