YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: A bounce by the dollar put pressure on stocks this session, but the market's loss for the week was negligible.

The tone of trade early this morning was generally positive, although markets abroad weren't exactly wild with excitement in the wake of some solid economic data out of Europe and Asia. Specifically, Germany's first quarter GDP grew at a seasonally adjusted 1.5%. Meanwhile, France reported first quarter GDP growth of 1.0%. The overall eurozone grew in the first quarter at a seasonally adjusted 0.8%. Hong Kong said its economy expanded at an annualized rate of 2.8% in the first quarter. Hong Kong's government went on to raise its 2011 GDP forecast to a range of 5% to 6% from the previous range of 4% to 5%.

Domestic data featured the April Consumer Price Index, which increased by 0.4%. Core CPI climbed 0.2%. The consensus among economists polled by Briefing.com had called for a 0.4% increase in overall prices and a 0.1% increase in core prices.

The initial reaction to the CPI data was rather muted, but slowly thereafter the dollar began to work its way out of the red. It paused at the flat line, but began to rally by mid-morning. Its climb took the Dollar Index to a one-month high before it eased back to finish the trading day with a 0.8% gain.

Strength in the dollar overshadowed the preliminary Consumer Sentiment Survey for May from the University of Michigan, even though it improved to 72.4 from 69.8. It had been widely expected that the Survey would come in at 69.5. Stocks had spent the past several weeks trading without much regard for moves in the dollar. The inverse relationship between the buck and stocks has come back into play in recent sessions, though.

In turn, the dollar's upturn stirred broad-based selling interest among stocks. As such, all 10 major sectors logged losses today.

Financials fell the furthest. The sector's 1.5% loss was worse than that of any other sector. Banks were some of the weakest performers in the sector. As such, the KBW Bank Index fell 1.8%.

NVIDIA (NVDA 18.26, -2.24) was one of the worst individual plays of the day. The sector's precipitous drop followed news of an upside earnings surprise and forecast. Yahoo! (YHOO 16.55, -0.62) also succumbed to stiff selling following its response to reports regarding the restructuring of Alipay.

Consumer staples stocks fell only fractionally this session. That extended the sector's run of outperforming the rest of the market and preserved its 2% weekly gain.

Oil prices climbed back from losses in early afternoon trade to finish pit trade at $99.65 per barrel for a 0.7% gain. Oil prices advanced 2.2% this week.

Natural gas prices closed the week at $4.24 per MMBtu. That made for a 1.2% gain this session, but the energy component ended the week down 1.4% from where it began.

Gold prices were flat this morning, but ultimately fell 0.9% to close at $1493.10 per ounce. That is barely changed from the prior week.

As for silver, its volatility continued before it settled the session at $34.91 for a 0.3% gain. During the course of the week silver prices shed 1.7%.

More broadly, the CRB Commodity Index started the session in higher ground before falling in response to a bounce by the dollar. It worked its way higher in afternoon action to finish flat. It advanced just 0.3% this week.

Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Financials (-1.5%), Materials (-1.4%), Tech (-1.2%), Industrials (-1.1%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.7%), Telecom (-0.6%), Utilities (-0.4%), Energy (-0.4%), Health Care (-0.2%), Consumer Staples (-0.1%)DJ30 -100.17 NASDAQ -34.57 NQ100 -1.2% R2K -1.4% SP400 -1.1% SP500 -10.88 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 619/1.92 bln/1988 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 856/897 mln/2148