YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Leadership from Financials had lifted the broad market to a nice gain, but a dive by the euro prompted participants to sell. Ensuing pressure sent the major averages into the red before a final rebound took the stock market to the flat line.

Financials led the broad market through choppy trade this morning. The sector was up about 2% with help from shares of banks and diversified financial services outfits. The Financial sector's gains petered out into the afternoon and were fully forfeited in the final hour, but a bounce off of the flat line enabled the sector to book a 0.7% gain.

Tech stocks, which were leaders in the prior session, generally lagged during trade today. The sector settled with a 0.3% loss. Energy stocks matched that move, but Materials slid 0.6% to suffer the worst loss of any major sector. Materials stocks had outperformed in the prior session by posting a 3% gain.

Many retailers were unable to sustain their gains, forcing the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 58.39, +0.05) back to the flat line after it had been up more than 1%. Quarterly reports from Best Buy (BBY 18.46, +0.29), Urban Outfitters (URBN 28.10, +1.94), and Polo Ralph Lauren (RL 150.27, +3.97) were in focus. Polo Ralph Lauren actually doubled its dividend to $0.40 per share.

News flow slowed in afternoon trade, so many became closely focused on comments from a former Greece prime minister who stated that the country may exit the euro. Although many believe that such a development would actually strengthen the euro, the currency sold off amid speculation about near-term costs and implications of the event. As of the final bell the euro trailed the dollar by about 1.0%. Prior to the open of trade it was learned that the OECD now expects a mild economic contraction in the euro area.

The Japanese yen was also hit with selling pressure. Its weakness followed a decision by analysts at Fitch to downgrade Japan's long-term debt rating to A+ from AA. 

The greenback's gain didn't help the case for commodities. Broad selling pressure there sent the CRB Index to a 1.1% loss.

The only dose of domestic data centered on existing home sales, which set an annualized rate of 4.62 million during April. A rate of 4.65 million had been broadly expected.

Stocks are on the slide as they enter the final leg of trade. The action has the Nasdaq at a new session low, while both the Dow and the S&P 500 fight to remain narrowly above the neutral line.

As for commodities, they've wrapped up pit trade. Broad selling pressure there sent the CRB Index to a 1.1% loss.

Crude oil stayed in negative territory for all of pit trade. It came close to touching the unchanged line in morning action when it climbed to a session high of $92.84 per barrel. However, the energy component sold-off to a session low of $91.64 per barrel and eventually settled floor trade with a 1.1% loss at $91.85 per barrel. Today's weakness was partly attributed to an impending deal between the IAEA and Iran to allow Western nuclear inspectors into the country, thus easing fears of oil supply disruptions.

On the other hand, natural gas climbed higher into positive territory. It touched a session high of $2.73 per MMBtu as it headed into the close, and settled pit trade at $2.70 per MMBtu, or 3.1% higher.

A stronger dollar put pressure on precious metals. Both gold and silver began pit trade in negative territory and climbed into positive territory for respective session highs of $1590.30 per ounce and $28.77 per ounce by late morning, but the metals were unable to hold the gains and spent the afternoon trending lower. Gold settled with a 0.8% loss at $1576.60 per ounce, just above its session low of $1575.50 per ounce. Silver finished 0.6% lower at $28.15 per ounce, just above its session low of $28.09 per ounce.

Advancing Sectors: Financials +0.7%, Utilities +0.6%, Consumer Discretionary +0.3%, Industrials +0.2%, Consumer Staples +0.1%
Declining Sectors: Telecom -0.1%, Health Care -0.2%, Energy -0.3%, Tech -0.3%, Materials -0.6%DJ30 -1.67 NASDAQ -8.13 NQ100 -0.2% R2K -0.7% SP400 +0.2% SP500 +0.64 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 923/1.84 bln/1604 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1560/846 mln/1457