YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The resumption of selling pressure amid rekindled concerns over Europe resulted in another weekly loss for stocks. The market has mustered only one weekly gain, which was actually only an incremental move higher, since April.

News that Greece has agreed to a five-year austerity plan with the EU and IMF has been regarded as a positive, but participants remain mindful of the challenges related to passing the plan in parliament, implementing it, and then upholding it. Failure in any facet would prolong the country's troubles.

Traders were reminded that Greece isn't the only country in the eurozone periphery that is grappling with fiscal and financial problems when rumors surfaced that several Italian banks are undercapitalized. Questions and concerns about the financial future of countries in the eurozone periphery detracted from a pleasing IFO reading from Germany, which is the largest economy in Europe, and generally regarded as the most financially sound.

Domestic data proved pleasing, but the positive response dissipated after the open. To the surprise of many economists, first quarter GDP was revised upward to reflect growth of 1.9%. Durable goods orders for May jumped 1.9% after an upwardly revised 2.7% decline in the prior month, but orders less transportation increased by 0.6% after a 0.4% decline in the prior month. The consensus among economists polled by Briefing.com had called for a 1.8% increase in total orders and a 0.7% increase in orders less transportation.

Selling was somewhat restrained in the early going, but pressure gradually picked up. The major market averages ultimately settled near their session lows with losses of at least 1%. That underpinned another weekly loss for stocks. Although this week's move lower was only fractional, it was enough to offset last week's incremental advance, which was the market's first weekly gain since April.

Financials drove most of this week's decline; the sector lost about 1% during the course of the past five trading days, including its 0.7% slide this session.

Energy stocks and tech stocks were this session's worst performers, though; both groups fell almost 2%. Drillers and oil service plays were among the worst performers in the energy space, while Oracle (ORCL 31.14, -1.32) led large-cap tech issues lower after the firm's quarterly report revealed inconsistent demand among its major segments. Oracle's better-than-expected bottom line was shrugged off.

Defensive-oriented utilities made up the only major sector that managed to settle in positive territory. As a group, utilities had been up more than 1% in early action, but were dragged down amid broad market weakness to finish the session with a 0.2% gain.

An interest in safety renewed buying among fixed income plays. In turn, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Note fell to a new 2011 low several basis points below 2.90%, which had been a point of resistance in recent sessions.

Share volume was robust this session, but for clarification, the total was inflated by all of the reconstitution and rebalancing going on in the Russell Indices at the close of trade.

It was a quieter session for commodities, following yesterday's volatile trade. Strength in the dollar, once again, pressured some commodities. August gold shed 1.3% to close at $1500.90 per ounce. Gold prices traded below the $1500 level to lows at $1498.50, its lowest levels since May 20. Gold shed over 50 points in the last two trading sessions of the week to mark its largest weekly decline since early May July silver finished off 0.9% to $34.70 per ounce.

It was a much more uneventful session for August crude oil, which gained 0.2% to close at $91.16 per barrel. Crude did break below $90 to notch session lows at $89.82, but was able to retrace that selloff to finish near unchanged on the session. For the week, crude oil dropped ~2%. July natural gas finished up 0.9% to $4.23 per MMBtu, staging a modest rebound following yesterday's sizeable inventory-induced selloff.

Advancing Sectors: Utilities (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Materials (-0.6%), Financials (-0.7%), Consumer Staples (-0.7%), Telecom (-0.8%), Consumer Discretionary (-1.0%), Health Care (-1.2%), Industrials (-1.2%), Tech (-1.8%), Energy (-1.9%)DJ30 -115.42 NASDAQ -33.86 NQ100 -1.7% R2K -0.6% SP400 -0.8% SP500 -15.05 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1060/2.87 bln/1494 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1071/1.74 bln/1894