YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: A late-day rally lifted the S&P 500 into positive territory moments ahead of the close, but the index finished with fractional losses to close lower for a fifth straight session. The index rallied from session lows to session highs in the final 90 minutes of trading on a somewhat mysterious move before slipping back below the flat line ahead of the close. Selling also dropped the Dow and Nasdaq 0.4% and 0.5% respectively.

This afternoon’s FOMC Minutes failed to mention more quantitative easing by the Fed, but suggested ‘further policy stimulus likely would be necessary to promote satisfactory growth,’ and that the Fed should study ‘new tools’ for easing. Several members also suggested the potential for a ‘significant slowdown’ in China. Both the trade deficit and wholesale inventories were released this morning with relatively in-line readings having a muted impact on trade.

Asian markets rallied into their respective closes after Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao suggested it is “important to promote a reasonable growth in investment” Elsewhere, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy announced new austerity measures which are expected to trim the country’s deficit by EUR65 billion. Spain’s IBEX outperformed with a 1.2% advance as the Spanish 10-yr yield eased 16 basis points 6.58%.

Luxury goods maker Burberry (BURBY 37.05, -2.55) fell sharply after announcing disappointing earnings. The company said sales increased 11.0% for the quarter to GBP408 mln, but that number fell short of the GBP418 mln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. U.S. rival Coach (COH 55.84, -1.08) lost 1.9% as it piggybacked the move.

Jeans makers were hit after privately held Levi Strauss announced weak second quarter results. The company stated that while it experienced growth in the U.S., both its Asian and European businesses were weak. High cotton prices and the stronger dollar also played a role in the disappointing quarter. Guess (GES 26.91), True Religion Apparel (TRLG 26.78, -1.86), and V F Corp. (VFC 135.69, -1.55) all lost ground on the news. 

Shares of teen retailer Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF 34.12, +1.35) surged following a New York Times report suggesting the company is planning a ‘massive’ share buyback.

Regional consumer electronics retailer hhgregg (HGG 7.34, -4.20) hit a three and a half-year low after the company guided its fiscal first quarter results below consensus and lowered its full-year 2013 outlook. Peer Best Buy (BBY 19.37, -1.77) slid in response.

Second quarter earnings reports remain light in terms of volume, but the early negative results against low expectations are providing credibility to the negative sentiment in markets. Last night Adtran (ADTN 23.01, -4.18), OCZ Technology (OCZ 4.50, -0.95), and Voxx International (VOXX 8.04, -1.73) all missed top and bottom line expectations. That brings the Briefing.com calendar results to 10 misses, two in-lines, and one beat thus far for earnings.

Treasuries finished the day flat despite this afternoon’s superb 10-yr reopening. The auction drew a record low at-auction yield of 1.459% and a strong 3.61x bid/cover were reached as direct bidders took down an extremely high 45.4% of the offering. Sellers immediately faded the rally and dropped the complex back to pre-auction levels where it sat for the remainder of the session. The long bond saw slight performance, ending the day up 7/32 at 108 13/32 as its yield slid 0.5 bps to 2.589%. A flat session for the 10-yr note caused its yield to hold steady at 1.498% after post-auction buying dropped it to a low of 1.452% (1.440% record low).

Crude oil began pit trade in positive territory and popped higher following stronger-than-expected inventory data that showed a draw of 4.696 mln barrels when a draw of 1.4 mln barrels was widely anticipated. It touched a session high of $86.49 per barrel but pulled-back slightly in afternoon action following FOMC minutes. Still, the energy component managed to book a gain of 2.3% as it closed at $85.89 per barrel.

Natural gas also advanced higher in today's pit trade. It opened at its session low of $2.77 per MMBtu and worked its way up to settle at its session high of $2.86 per MMBtu for a 4.4% gain.

Gold spent most of its pit session in negative territory. It came off its session low of $1569.60 per ounce set in morning action and traded a little higher in choppy fashion. Although the yellow metal broke into the black a few times, it was unable to sustain any gains and eventually settled the session 0.2% lower at $1575.90 per ounce. Silver, however, found buying support after it brushed a pit session low of $26.88 per ounce. It rose as high as $27.24 per ounce, but a pull-back heading into the close left silver with a 0.5% gain as it closed at $27.03 per ounce. Both metals tanked in electronic trade as the dollar rallied following the release of FOMC minutes, but silver has since recovered the loss.

Corn prices fell in today's pit trade and settled at $7.03 per bushel despite a bullish corn production forecast by the USDA due to dry/hot weather. CNBC suggested that one of the reasons for the slide was that the USDA will help farmers with the drought. As a result, corn futures fell as much as 8.4% off its session high for the day to $6.86.

Tomorrow’s data is limited to initial and continuing claims and import/export prices which will be released 8:30 am ET, as well as the Treasury budget which is due out at 2 pm ET.DJ30 -48.59 NASDAQ -14.35 SP500 -0.02 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1209/1.57 bln/1233 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1608/768.0 mln/1433