YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Financial instability in parts of the eurozone, talk of further quantitative easing, and an underwhelming start to earnings season played into today's trade, yet overall action was really rather dull until late in the day, when stocks fell amid a flurry of selling pressure.

Concerns about the inability of the European Union to contain and remedy the precarious financial conditions of countries in the eurozone periphery prompted participants to drop the stock market in the prior session for its worst one-day performance in more than a month. Momentum from that slide, combined with aggressive selling abroad and a lack of progress in restoring confidence throughout the eurozone, renewed pressure on stocks ahead of the open.

Sentiment improved by the time of the open, but the broad market remained mired near the neutral line into early afternoon trade. Financials had offered some support before they rolled over in the final hour of the session. At its high, the sector was up 1.0%, but it ended the day with a 0.3% loss.

The financial sector's pullback coincided with a broad market downturn that came after participants began to digest the verbiage included in minutes from the most recent FOMC meeting. Participants first began to buy stocks in response to news that Committee members discussed the circumstances that could warrant further quantitative easing, but the recognition that members were only being prudent by discussing the topic prompted selling interest.

While stocks were on the backslide, Moody's brought Europe's financial woes back into focus with its decision to downgrade Ireland's debt.

The euro had spent most of the day trying to gain ground against the greenback, but the downgrade of Ireland's debt drove the euro back below $1.40 to a 0.4% loss. Japan's yen actually advanced against the dollar, even though the country's central bank cut its 2011 GDP forecast to 0.4% growth from 0.6% growth.

Production disruptions from the Japan's massive earthquake earlier this year continue to suppress output in the country. Trade data for May indicated that the U.S. deficit with Japan narrowed during from the same period one year ago. Still, the overall U.S. trade deficit ballooned to $50.3 billion, which is the widest that the deficit has been since 2008. The consensus among economists polled by Briefing.com had called for a deficit of $44.0 billion.

Dow component Alcoa (AA 15.71, -0.20) unofficially started earnings season with its latest quarterly report, but amid all of the macro concerns the announcement was relegated to secondary concern. The lack of attention was also partly due to the company's underwhelming results that featured earnings of $0.32 per share, which is a penny shy of what had been widely expected on Wall Street.

Continued concerns about Italy helped precious metals trade higher today. August gold finished up 0.8% to $1563.10 per ounce, while Sept silver closed higher by 0.3% to $35.96. Both metals, however, extended their respective rallies in afterhours trade after the release of the FOMC minutes, which indicated some members believe the Fed might have to consider providing additional monetary policy stimulus. Gold futures closed in on all time highs, at $1577.40, but have since pulled back some.

August crude oil finished higher by 2.4% to $97.43 per barrel, ending a two session losing streak. Futures erased modest overnight losses after trading back to the unchanged mark in mid-morning trade. Crude oil continued to climb higher throughout the afternoon and was added by the markets reaction to the FOMC minutes. It ended near session highs at $97.50. August natural gas finished up 0.1% to $4.39 per MMBtu.

Advancing Sectors: Utilities +0.5%, Health Care +0.1%
Declining Sectors: Telecom -0.2%, Financials -0.3%, Energy -0.3%, Materials -0.3%, Consumer Staples -0.4%, Consumer Discretionary -0.4%, Tech -0.9%, Industrials -1.0%DJ30 -58.88 NASDAQ -20.71 NQ100 -0.8% R2K -0.5% SP400 -0.4% SP500 -5.85 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1062/2.04 bln/1515 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1265/924 mln/1736