YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Worries about the economic climate caused the major market averages to drop more than 1% before they were able to stabilize. As action progressed, tech stocks helped lead the broader market off of its low, but the rally really got going with news that Greece has agreed to a set of austerity measures.

A downward revision to the Fed's GDP forecast factored in to the prior session's weak finish and weighed on sentiment overnight. Disappointing PMI data from Europe helped keep in focus concerns about the health of the global economy, as did news this morning that the latest initial jobless claims count climbed to 429,000, which is greater than the 413,000 initial claims that had been expected among economists at Briefing.com.

Although new home sales for May slipped just 2% to an annualized rate of 319,000 units, which is greater than the pace of 305,000 units that had been anticipated among economists polled by Briefing.com, the report received little attention.

Aggressive selling took the stock market down more than 1% to within close reach of its 200-day moving average. However, for the second time in one week the key technical line has held.

Few stocks were able to avoid being caught up in the sell off. Bed Bath & Beyond (BBBY 56.93, +2.87), Red Hat (RHT 45.27, +1.55), Discover Financial (DFS 23.89, +0.30), and Lennar (LEN 18.51, +0.41) were on the short list of those that managed to advance in the face of broad market weakness, thanks to better-than-expected earnings from each of them. Pfizer (PFE 20.65, +0.37) and Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY 29.33, +1.59) both bounced on the back of news that one of their drug candidates successfully met primary and secondary endpoints in a Phase 3 study.

Broad market selling pressure eased with help from tech stocks, which collectively represent the largest sector by market weight. Tech stocks had been down more than 1% in the morning, but settled with a 0.9% gain. Their strength helped the tech-rich Nasdaq outperform its counterparts all afternoon.

Buying interest was further bolstered by news that Greece has reached an agreement on austerity measures with the European Union and International Monetary Fund. Although the measures must still be passed by Greece's parliament and do not represent an immediate fix to the country's fiscal troubles (it is a five-year plan), the agreement represents progress in restoring the country's finances.

It was a very volatile day for commodities. In overnight trade, the dollar rallied on the weak economic data in both Europe and China. The strength in the dollar weighed heavily on select commodities... Energy: August crude oil shed 4.4% to settle at $91.02 per barrel. Crude recouped most of its losses from this morning's IEA news, but spent a large portion of the session chopping around the $91 level, the same area prices were prior to news about the IEA. Today' settlement price marks crude's lowest since mid-Feb. July natural gas fell 2.7% to $4.20 per MMBtu. A larger-than-expected build in inventories sent prices to their lowest levels in over a month.

August gold settled lower by 2.1% to $1520.30 per ounce, while July silver fell 4.5% to $35.06 per ounce. Both metals sold off sharply on the back of the stronger dollar. In afterhours trade, however, both metals are starting to push away from their respective lows as the dollar pulls back.

Advancing Sectors: Tech (+0.9%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.4%)
Declining Sectors: Health Care (-0.1%), Materials (-0.1%), Telecom (-0.2%), Industrials (-0.3%), Consumer Staples (-0.9%), Utilities (-0.9%), Financials (-1.0%), Energy (-1.2%)DJ30 -59.67 NASDAQ +17.56 NQ100 +0.9% R2K +0.4% SP400 +0.0% SP500 -3.64 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1353/2.08 bln/1170 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1246/1.12 bln/1718