YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The major averages settled with modest gains as late afternoon selling took hold following a headline from Nikkei news, indicating Japan plans to impose new foreign exchange margin trading rules. The news caused dollar/yen to slip into the red while also weighing on equities.

Six of ten sectors ended in the black as financials and technology paced the broad market gains.

Most major financials saw gains of at least 1.0% as Morgan Stanley (MS 25.82, +0.84) climbed 3.4% to outperform its peers. Meanwhile, the broader financial sector rose 1.1% to extend its May gain to 7.6%.

Elsewhere, technology shares received support from major components like Apple (AAPL 451.58, +6.63), and Microsoft (MSFT 35.03, +0.15), as well as high-beta chipmakers. The PHLX Semiconductor Index settled higher by 1.5%.

The relative strength of technology contributed to the outperformance of the Nasdaq, with additional support coming from biotech. The Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB 183.23, +2.16) gained 1.2%.

Biotechnology also constitutes a good portion of the health care sector, which outperformed its defensively-oriented peers, adding 0.7%.

Another defensively-minded group, utilities, was up as much as 2.0% in early action before surrendering the bulk of its gains to settle up 0.2%. The morning rally took place after NV Energy (NVE 23.62, +4.34) agreed to be acquired by Berkshire Hathaway's MidAmerican for $23.75 per share, representing a 23.2% premium to yesterday's closing price. Despite ending in the black, the utilities sector remains the weakest performer of the month, down 9.0%.

Only a handful of names reported their quarterly results this morning. Industrial component Joy Global (JOY 55.61, +0.53) added 1.0% after its above-consensus results overshadowed the machinery manufacturer's cautious full-year guidance.

In retail earnings, Express (EXPR 21.20, +2.41) surged 12.8% after its solid report was coupled with upbeat bottom-line guidance. Meanwhile, the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 77.79, +0.27) tacked on 0.4%.

Initial claims for the week ending May 25 jumped by 10,000 to 354,000. The Briefing.com consensus expected the claims level to be 340,000. That bumped up the four-week moving average by 6,750 to 347,250.

The second estimate of first quarter GDP produced a small downward revision to 2.4% from 2.5% (Briefing.com consensus +2.5%) while the GDP deflator slipped to 1.1% from 1.2% (Briefing.com consensus +1.2%).

The upshot of the revision was that personal consumption expenditures growth was revised higher to 3.4% from 3.2%. That was the highest growth rate since the fourth quarter of 2010 and it boosted the PCE contribution to GDP growth to 2.4 percentage points from 2.2 percentage points at the first estimate.

Increases in private inventory investment, exports, and imports were less than previously estimated. The lower contribution from the change in private inventories and nonresidential structures were offsetting factors to the uptick in the PCE contribution.

Lastly, pending home sales for April rose 0.3%, which was worse than the 1.5% increase forecast by the Briefing.com consensus. Today's reading follows last month's rise of 1.5%.

Tomorrow, April personal income, personal spending, and core PCE prices will all be announced at 8:30 ET. This will be followed by the 9:45 ET release of the May Chicago PMI while the final Michigan Consumer Sentiment Survey for May will cross the wires at 9:55 ET.DJ30 +21.73 NASDAQ +23.78 SP500 +6.05 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1727/1.72 bln/776 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1787/710.6 mln/1212

3:30 pm :

• July crude oil began pit trade in negative territory but rose into the black following inventory data that showed crude oil inventories had a build of 3.0 mln barrels when a draw of 0.45 mln was anticipated, while gasoline inventories had a draw of 1.514 mln vs consensus ranging between a draw of 0.5 mln and a build of 0.1 mln. The energy component advanced to a session high of $93.99 per barrel despite trading as low as $91.65 per barrel in early morning action. It eventually settled at $93.66 per barrel, or 0.6% higher.
• July natural gas, on the other hand, fell deeper into the red following inventory data that showed a build of 88 bcf vs expectations for a build of 85-90 bcf. It settled 3.8% lower at $4.02 per MMBtu, just above its session low of $4.01 per MMBtu.
• Precious metals extended yesterday's gains as a weaker dollar following bearish U.S. economic data that included initial claims and Q1 GDP supported the move higher.
• June gold came off its session low of $1398.00 per ounce and advanced as high as $1417.50 per ounce. It settled at $1411.80 per ounce, booking a gain of 1.5%.
• July silver rose to a session high of $23.06 per ounce and settled with a 1.1% gain at $22.70 per ounce after pulling-back in afternoon action.