YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The major equity averages booked varied gains as market participants provided a rather broad bid following the drubbing of the prior session.

Consumer Discretionary stocks were the strongest performers with a collective climb of 1.2%. Apollo Group (APOL 35.81, +3.34) rallied hard after the for-profit education provider posted better-than-expected profits and a strong revenue forecast. Harley Davidson (HOG 46.18, -1.74) was a laggard in the group despite yesterday's news of strong earnings and an upgrade today by analysts at Barclays.

Fellow Discretionary play Best Buy (BBY 19.37, +0.86) benefited from a late flurry of buying interest amid headlines that suggested the company's founder may be seeking certain strategic options for the company after following his recent resignation as Chairman. The stock was unable to sustain all of its gain, however.

News Corp (NWS 21.96, +1.68) also attracted attention related to its strategic direction with news that the company is considering the possibility of spinning off part of its operations. The news helped the stock climb to a new 52-week high.

Energy stocks were also strong. As a group they gained 1.1%. Refiners were generally in favor. As an aside, oil prices settled with a 0.2% gain at $79.34 per barrel after overcoming an intraday loss.

With Europe still in focus German Chancellor Merkel reiterated her refusal for Germany to share liability for what many believe has been an absence of fiscal responsibility on the part of eurozone countries now in precarious shape. Despite the relative strength and diversity of Germany's economy, analysts at Egan Jones downgraded it today to AA- from A+. They also assigned a Negative Outlook to the rating.

Economic data was somewhat limited in that it featured a Case-Shiller 20-city Home Price Index that declined just 1.9% when many had expected a 2.5% decline. However, the Conference Board's latest Consumer Confidence Index fell to 62.0 from 64.4 in the prior month, disappointing many who had thought the Index would ease to only 64.0.

Crude oil touched a session high of $79.68 per barrel in morning pit action, but fell into negative territory soon after. A session low of $78.32 per barrel was set after it was reported that German Chancellor Merkel reiterated her refusal for Germany to share liability for what some pundits believe is an absence of fiscal responsibility. Despite the dip, crude found buying support and erased the loss to settle with a 0.2% gain at $79.34 per barrel. Natural gas fell into the red moments after pit trade opened and touched a session low of $2.66 per MMBtu. However, the move was short lived as the energy component climbed back into positive territory and trended higher for the remainder of floor trade. It settled at its session high of $2.77 per MMBtu for a gain of 3.0%.

Precious metals struggled during all of pit trade. Gold set a session low of $1568.20 per ounce before it inched slightly higher in afternoon trade, settling at $1574.60 per ounce for a loss of 0.8%. Silver’s losses were more significant as the metal finished 1.6% lower at $27.05 per ounce.

Advancing Sectors: Consumer Discretionary +1.2%, Energy +1.1%, Financials +0.6%, Health Care +0.3%, Utilities +0.3%, Telecom +0.3%, Tech +0.3%, Consumer Staples +0.2%, Industrials +0.2%, Materials +0.1%
Declining Sectors: NoneDJ30 +32.01 NASDAQ +17.90 NQ100 +0.6% R2K +0.4% SP400 +0.6% SP500 +6.27 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1383/1.59 bln/1091 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1918/712 mln/1084