YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Monday made for an underwhelming start to the week as stocks traded listlessly in light volume before they booked a modest loss. Meanwhile, Treasuries traded with steady strength, such that the yield on the 10-year Note fell to a new 52-week low.

Stocks appeared poised for a positive start as premarket participants took their cues from Europe's major bourses, which moved higher amid news that members of the G-20 agreed to slash deficits and even proposed to give banks a more flexible timeline to build capital reserves.

Morning traders were also handed some encouraging markers for future spending activity. Specifically, real disposable income for May increased 0.5% -- the third straight monthly increase -- while the personal savings rate ticked up to 4.0% from 3.8% in April. Though the 0.4% increase in personal income for May was shy of the 0.5% increase that had been widely expected, personal income for April was revised higher to reflect a 0.5% increase. Moreover, core personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased 0.2%, which was slightly higher than the 0.1% increase that had been expected.

Yet instead of a strong start, stocks set their lows in the early going as a mild, but broad-based fit of selling pressure hit stocks shortly after the open.

Materials stocks were in the worst shape for most of the session. They finished with a collective loss of 1.1%. Of the major sectors, only energy's 1.3% drop was worse.

In contrast, telecom and consumer staples stocks traded with strength for the entire day. The two defensive-oriented sectors were able to settle with respective gains of 1.0% and 1.1%.

The broader market was range bound for the better part of the session, so much that during a period of five hours it was confined to a five-point span.

That sort of lackluster action kept many participants on the sidelines. In turn, trading volume on the NYSE failed to break 1 billion shares for the first time in more than two months.

Sentiment was likely hampered by a weaker euro. The currency gave up 0.8% against the greenback. That was its worst single-session performance in three weeks.

Commodities traded modestly lower this session. Natural gas, sugar and silver futures were among the notable decliners.

Natural gas led energy commodities lower. The July contract fell 2.9% at $4.72 per MMBtu. Crude oil futures fared slightly better. The August crude oil contract closed 0.8% lower at $78.25 per barrel.

Precious metals were weak as the dollar moved higher. July silver lost 2.2% to close at $18.69 per ounce. August gold closed 1.4% lower at $1238.60 per ounce.

Sugar futures fell 3.5% as an importer delayed a large purchase of the commodity. In turn, the iPath DJ-UBS Sugar ETN (SGG 43.93 -1.75) trading nearly 4% lower this session.

Though stocks didn't experience much volatility this session, Treasuries ticked sharply higher. In fact, the benchmark 10-year Note closed at its session high with a gain of roughly 25 ticks. That dropped its yield down to 3.01%, a fresh 52-week low.

Advancing Sectors: Consumer Staples (+1.1%), Telecom (+1.0%), Utilities (+0.7%), Tech (+0.3%)
Declining Sectors: Energy (-1.3%), Materials (-1.1%), Financials (-0.9%), Industrials (-0.6%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.5%)
Unchanged: Health Care DJ30 -5.29 NASDAQ -2.83 SP500 -2.19 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1090/1.83 bln/1572 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1420/925 mln/1626