YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Surprisingly strong domestic manufacturing data helped drive the stock market to its fifth straight gain. That helped the stock market lock in its best weekly performance in about two years.

Recent PMI manufacturing numbers from Europe and China either underwhelmed or disappointed, but the June ISM Manufacturing Index impressed. It came in at 55.3, despite calls from economists polled by Briefing.com for the number to fall to 51.1 from the 53.5 that was posted in the prior month.

Stocks responded immediately to the stronger-than-expected ISM reading. News that the final Consumer Sentiment Survey for June from the University of Michigan eased down to 71.5 from the 71.8 that was posted in the preliminary report received little attention. A 0.6% decline in construction spending during May was ignored, even though the consensus had called for no change.

Although participants showed favor for a broad range of stocks, consumer discretionary issues were among the top performers. As a group, they advanced 2.0%. Darden Restaurants (DRI 52.79, +3.03) was a leader in the space after the company posted in-line earnings and hiked its dividend 34% to $0.43 per share. Apollo Group (APOL 46.46, +2.78) also provided a push following news of its upside earnings surprise.

The combination of concerted buying and thin volume helped take eight of the 10 sectors to gains of nearly 1% or more. Materials stocks and consumer staples stocks made up the only major sectors that failed to advance more than 1%. Still, their respective gains of 0.9% and 0.8% remain impressive.

Although a strong ISM number helped drive today's advance, the move really marked a continuation of an upward climb that began early this week. Buyers began to step back in only after stocks had logged seven weekly losses in two months -- the one weekly gain was only an incremental move higher. Amid increasingly attractive stock prices, traders and investors showed more willingness to re-enter the market. Confidence was also restored amid Greece's efforts to restore its financial health by passing new austerity measures and voting to implement the plan.

The improved tone of trade culminated in a weekly gain of 5.6% for the S&P 500. Stocks haven't put together a performance like that since July 2009.

Weakness in the commodity complex led to a 0.3% decline by the CRB Commodity Complex. For the week, the CRB fell 1.8%.

Oil prices pared losses seen in early pit trade to log a 0.7% loss at $94.79 per barrel, but the energy component finished the week 4% higher than where it began.

Natural gas prices fell 1.4% to $4.34 per MMBtu. The commodity was under pressure all session, but it was able to advance almost 3% for the week.

Precious metals also performed poorly today. Specifically, gold prices dropped 1.3% to $1483.80 per ounce while silver sank 3.2% to $33.72 per ounce. For the week, though, gold prices fell 1.1% while silver prices shed 2.8%.

Advancing Sectors: Consumer Discretionary (+2.0%), Industrials (+1.7%), Tech (+1.7%), Financials (+1.7%), Telecom (+1.3%), Health Care (+1.3%), Utilities (+1.2%), Energy (+1.0%), Materials (+0.9%), Consumer Staples (+0.8%)
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +168.43 NASDAQ +42.51 NQ100 +1.6% R2K +1.5% SP400 +1.7% SP500 +19.03 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1910/1.68 bln/671 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2497/863 mln/527