YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks finished just off their best levels of the session as traders bought the dip that occurred following Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke's semi-annual “Monetary Policy Report to the Congress" in front of the Senate Banking Committee. The S&P 500 led the way with a gain of 0.7% while the Nasdaq lagged with a 0.4% advance. Economic data mostly topped expectations as CPI was mixed while industrial production and the Housing Market Index beat forecasts.

Earnings season picked up as Goldman Sachs (GS 97.98, +0.30), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ 69.00, +0.55), Mosaic (MOS 58.21, +2.84) and Coca-Cola (KO 77.69, +1.21) all announced their results for the quarter. Other releases showed toy maker Mattel (MAT 34.05, +3.01) rally 9.7% after reporting better than expected second quarter results. The stock almost made a fourteen-year high this morning.

On the other hand, Mattress retailer Mattress Firm (MFRM 25.96, -3.81) lowered revenue guidance after yesterday’s close. Mattress maker Select Comfort (SCSS 21.12, -1.98) fell in response to the news.

Elsewhere, New Oriental Education (EDU 14.62 -7.64) closed down sharply despite better than expected fourth quarter results after the company disclosed it was being investigated by the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Yahoo! (YHOO 15.60, -0.05) fell 0.3% after announcing the hiring of Google’s Marissa Mayer as its new President and Chief Executive Officer. Mrs. Mayer joined Google in 1999 and was most recently responsible for Local, Maps, and Location services for Google.

The SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB 21.42, +0.03) finished with fractional gains despite the better than expected Housing Market Index reading. Lennar (LEN 31.15, -0.24) and D.R. Horton (DHI 18.64, -0.26) were among the worst performers in the space.

Precious metals climbed off their lows to finish with small losses as gold fell $7 and silver slipped $0.05 to their respective $1585 and $27.25. Aurizon Mines (AZK 4.47, -0.05) and Silver Wheaton (SLW 26.00, +0.00) were in-line with their underlying metals.

Treasuries ended on session lows as the complex found itself under pressure amid today’s rally in equities. Selling at the long end dropped the 30-yr bond 20/32 to 108 13/32 while producing a rise of almost 5 bps in yield to 2.595%. A less pronounced drop in the 10-yr note led to a 4 bp jump in yield as it settled today’s session at 1.501%. Steepening along the yield curve saw the 2-10-yr spread widen to 126 bps.

Crude oil slid into negative territory and to a floor session low of $87.41 per barrel as the dollar rallied in response to Chairman Bernanke's testimony to the Senate Banking Committee where he repeated that the Fed is prepared to take further action to promote a stronger recovery. However, crude was able to recover its losses as the dollar began to pull back. It popped to a session high of $89.46 per barrel before it settled pit trade with a 0.7% gain at $89.07 per barrel.

Natural gas came off its pit session low of $2.77 per MMBtu set in morning action and chopped around in positive territory for the remainder of floor trade. A sell-off heading into the close erased the day's gains and had natural gas settle flat at $2.80 per MMBtu.

Gold dipped to a floor session low of $1571.00 per ounce in response to the pop in the dollar. However, buyers stepped in and were able to push prices up, such that the yellow metal closed just 0.2% lower at $1589.20 per ounce, or just below its session high of $1592.20 per ounce.

Silver followed gold's move and also fell to a pit session low of $26.72 per ounce in morning action. It then trended higher and erased the day's losses as it settled 0.1% higher at $27.34 per ounce.

Tomorrow’s data includes the weekly MBA Mortgage Index at 7 AM ET, housing starts and building permits at 8:30 AM ET, and the Fed’s Beige Book which crosses the wires at 2 PM ET. Chairman Bernanke will give his semi-annual “Monetary Policy Report to the Congress” in front of the House Financial Services Committee beginning at 10 AM ET. DJ30 +78.33 NASDAQ +13.10 SP500 +10.03 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1382/1.70 bln/1110 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2043/697.7 mln/999