YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks saw a string of strong performances come to an end as participants applied pressure amid a strong jump by the dollar. Commodities also succumbed to concerted selling interest.

Over the course of the past three sessions the stock market displayed impressive resilience as it generated enough momentum to climb more than 1%. However, concerns about higher interest rates and the fiscal state of Greece tested the conviction of recent market participants. Suspicion that higher interest rates may be forthcoming were underpinned by news that China saw a 5.3% increase in consumer prices and that the Bank of England expects consumer prices to climb above its targeted 2.0% rate and remain there through 2012.

The dollar still won support, though. Its strength came amid concern about what may be needed to prevent a default by Greece. The greenback was able to build on its gain against the euro so that the Dollar Index ended the trading day with a 1.0% gain.

Neither stocks nor commodities could attract meaningful support. In turn, the major equity averages all fell close to 1% while the CRB Commodity Index dropped to a 3.0% loss.

The combination of broad market weakness and lower commodity prices led the energy sector to suffer a 2.9% loss while the materials sector fell 2.7%.

Consumer staples stocks did a good job fending off sellers, though. The sector settled just 0.1% lower. At the individual level, Teva Pharma (TEVA 48.65, +1.51) and Macy's (M 28.36, +2.03) outperformed. Both company's posted upside earnings surprises for the latest quarter, but Macy's complemented its report with an improved forecast word that it has doubled its dividend to $0.10 per share.

Treasuries were able to attract buying interest today. They were helped by results from an results from a 10-year Note auction, which drew a bid-to-cover of 3.00, dollar demand of $72.0 billion, and an indirect bidder participation rate of 42.7%. The benchmark 10-year Note gained about a half point.

Today brought a large sell off in the commodities complex, aided by the strength in the dollar. June gold shed 1.1% to close at $1500.80 per ounce, while July silver fell 8.1% to close at $35.41 per ounce. Both metals ended three session winning streaks, and ended up giving back a majority of their gains from that streak.

June crude oil fell 5.5% to close at $98.21 per barrel. There were a couple of contributing factors to the ~5.6% pullback today, including: a stronger dollar, bearish inventory data, and a continued pullback in gasoline futures. Gasoline futures, which were halted intraday for five minutes, were pummeled following this morning's data from the EIA, which showed that finished motor gasoline (implied demand) fell for the third time in four weeks. June natural gas shed 1.5% to end at $4.18 per MMBtu

Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Energy (-2.9%), Materials (-2.7%), Financials (-1.3%), Industrials (-1.1%), Telecom (-0.9%), Tech (-0.9%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.8%), Health Care (-0.3%), Utilities (-0.2%), Consumer Staples (-0.1%)DJ30 -130.33 NASDAQ -26.83 NQ100 -0.8% R2K -1.8% SP400 -1.1% SP500 -15.08 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 614/2.27 bln/2021 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 476/977 mln/2599