YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks managed to muster a second day of gains in the face of some disappointing economic data. Leadership was also lacking.

News that initial jobless claims for the week ended May 14 fell from 438,000 to 409,000, which is less than the 420,000 that had been widely expected, helped support a positive tone among morning participants. However, a dose of disappointing data shortly after the open caused the tone of trade to sour.

The Philadelphia Fed Index for May came in at 3.9, which is well below the 18.0 that had been widely expected. The May reading is also down sharply from the 18.5 that had been posted in April.

Leading Indicators for April fell by 0.3%. The consensus among economists surveyed by Briefing.com had called for no change.

Existing home sales fell to an annualized rate of 5.05 million in April. They had been expected to come in at a pace of 5.23 million units following the prior month's rate of 5.09 million units.

A negative response to the data caused stocks to retreat into the red for a while, but a downturn by the dollar helped renew support for the equity market. Although the dollar remained near its session low and closed with a loss of about 0.4%, stocks were unable to make anything more than a modest gain.

Industrial stocks staged the strongest advance, but their lack of weight in the overall market limited their ability to lead. Nonetheless, the industrial sector put together a 0.7% gain.

Social media play LinkedIn (LNKD 94.25, +49.25) was a top performer in its debut session. The stock achieved a gain of more than 100%, even though it settled more than 20% off of its session high.

Retailers had a rough session. Sears Holding (SHLD 73.86, -1.99), Limited (LTD 40.81, -1.64), Buckle (BKE 41.19, -6.71), Hott Topic (HOTT 7.25, -0.41), and Advance Auto Parts (AAP 63.49, -7.17) all tumbled in the wake of their latest quarterly reports. Discount retailer Dollar Tree (DLTR 63.11, +1.78) was one of the few names that moved higher, thanks mostly to an upside earnings surprise.

This morning's inventory data, which showed a larger than expected build, sent June natural gas to session lows at $4.09. It attempted to recoup some of those losses, but after trading back to pre-inventory levels, it began pulling back towards session lows, where it closed on the session, lower by 2.3% to $4.10 per MMBtu. July crude oil, the most actively traded contract, finish lower by 1.7% to $98.93 per barrel. It dropped to lows, at $98.63, in morning trade as gasoline futures sold off, and spent the remainder of the session range bound.

It was a relatively quiet session for precious metals, which both ticked to their respective lows, at $$1485.80 and $34.52, in mid-morning trade. They spent the remainder of the day attempting to recoup those losses. June gold finished lower by 0.2% to $1492.20 per ounce, while July silver shed 0.6% to close at $34.90 per ounce.

Advancing Sectors: Industrials +0.7%, Telecom +0.6%, Consumer Staples +0.5%, Consumer Discretionary +0.3%, Utilities +0.2%, Financial +0.1%, Tech +0.1%, Materials +0.1%, Energy +0.1%
Declining Sectors: Health Care -0.2%DJ30 +45.14 NASDAQ +8.31 NQ100 +0.3% R2K +0.2% SP400 +0.2% SP500 +2.92 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1308/1.76 bln/1294 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1764/871 mln/1210