YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: News that China will let its yuan move more freely triggered a strong buying effort that sent the stock market sharply higher in the early going, but a gradual loss of support left stocks to surrender all of their gains and settle with losses.

Major market averages in Asia surged during the first session of the week; European bourses followed suit. Their advances were spurred by a decision from The People's Bank of China to allow the yuan to move more freely, though no more than 0.5% in either direction per day, for now. Some interpret the decision as a sign that China is confident in its economy, given that a stronger yuan would make the country's exports pricier to foreign buyers. However, a stronger yuan should boost China's purchasing power, such that goods and raw materials would seem cheaper to China's consumers and businesses.

Market participants reacted to the news and the strong overseas gains by sending the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P 500 each up by more than 1% in the early going.

Given China's voracious appetite for raw materials, natural resource plays saw some of the strongest gains. In turn, materials stocks collectively made their way more than 2% higher. However, early buying lost momentum and the sector finished with a much more modest gain of 0.4%.

The sector's downturn followed that of the broader market, which was unable to produce any kind of follow through after its initial gap higher in the opening minutes of trade. In turn, it descended steadily for the rest of the session.

Retailers were hit with some of the hardest selling pressure. As a group, retailers dropped to a 1.7% loss, which undercut the consumer discretionary sector so that it fell 0.9% to log the worst loss of any major sector.

Tech stocks weren't far behind, though. The sector, which is the largest by market weight, booked a 0.8% loss. Its weakness imbued the Nasdaq, which underperformed the other headline indices for almost the entire session. Amazon.com (AMZN 122.55, -3.28) was one of the weaker performers in the index after reports indicated the company has cut prices on Kindle, the company's electronic reader.

While the stock market's slide was broad based, both Mastercard ( MA 223.34, +9.08) and Visa (V 80.90, +3.86) were able to book strong gains amid increased clarity regarding the Durbin bill's limit on interchange fees related to debit card transactions. A removal of marginal cost language and clarification on how interchange rates are defined were cited by media.

Commodities also succumbed to selling. In fact, August gold had been up to a new record high of $1266.50 per ounce overnight, but it closed pit trade with a 1.9% to $1240.70 per ounce. July silver settled lower by 2.3% to $18.81 per ounce.

A rally in the dollar index caused a sell off in commodities this afternoon. The CRB Index's largest decliner was the precious metals sector, which shed 2.1%. August gold closed lower by 1.9% to $1240.70 per ounce. In overnight trade, gold did put in a new all-time high at $1266.50. July silver settled lower by 2.3% to $18.81 per ounce. While silver futures were able to bounce off of their session lows, gold futures sold off throughout the afternoon to close near lows. The energy sector shed 0.4%, led by a 2.4% decline in July natural gas futures, which closed at $4.88 per MMBtu. It was the first commodity to sell off this afternoon as it dropped roughly 20 cents over a span of 20 minutes and continued to move lower throughout the session. July crude oil settled higher by 0.8% to $77.82. It bounced off the flat line in afternoon trade to recoup some of its gains.

The energy patch saw a 2.4% decline in July natural gas futures, which closed at $4.88 per MMBtu. July crude oil managed to make a 0.8% gain to close pit trade at $77.82 per barrel, but only after it bounced off the flat line in afternoon trade.

Advancing Sectors: Materials (+0.4%), Industrials (+0.3%)
Declining Sectors: Consumer Discretionary (-0.9%), Tech (-0.8%), Utilities (-0.8%), Health Care (-0.4%), Consumer Staples (-0.3%), Financials (-0.3%), Energy (-0.2%), Telecom (-0.1%) DJ30 -8.23 NASDAQ -20.71 NQ100 -0.9% R2K -1.0% SP400 -0.8% SP500 -4.31 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 865/1.91 bln/1807 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1262/1.07 bln/1782