YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks finished the week with modest gains, with the S&P 500 closing up 0.4% ahead of the long holiday weekend. It was a quiet afternoon, but this morning, stocks shrugged off a mixed batch of data to put in modest gains during the first half of the session. Participants digested news that during April consumer spending increased by 0.4% while incomes increased by 0.4%. Both were on level with what had been expected. The final Consumer Sentiment Survey for May from the University of Michigan came in at 74.3, which is better than what had been expected. Pending home sales for April plummeted a much sharper-than-expected 11.6%.

Materials stocks were the strongest sector today, helped by strength among metals and mining plays. Financials also caught a nice bid, with bank stocks bouncing following positive analyst commentary on many European banks and a proposal in Basel III for more favorable requirements for banks. Health care stocks and utilities were laggards. Medco Health Solutions (MHS 58.66, -5.78) has been a heavy drag on the health care space amid news that the company lost a contract with Blue Cross Blue Shield to CVS (CVS 38.80, +0.65).

A weak dollar helped the precious metals close higher today. June gold rallied for 0.9% to close at $1535.70 per ounce, while July silver ended up 1.4% to $37.84 per ounce. Gold traded to highs, at $1538.50, in morning trade but pulled back from those levels heading into the close of pit trade.

July crude oil finished higher by 0.4% to $100.59 per barrel ahead of the long weekend. This morning's worse-than-expected econ data caused crude oil to give back most of its gains from the overnight session. July natural gas rallied for 3.6% to close at $4.51 per MMBtu.

Although the pace of trade has been sluggish in recent months, today's action has been especially subdued. This afternoon's trade was confined to a tight range, as volume dried up ahead of the long weekend -- as a reminder, U.S. markets will be closed on Monday in observance of Memorial Day.DJ30 +38.97 NASDAQ +13.94 SP500 +5.42 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1600/1476.8 mln/948 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2182/527.2 mln/778