YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The S&P 500 settled just above its 200-day moving average after FedEx raised its forecast and new home sales figures for June proved better than expected. Trading volume was light, though.

FedEx (FDX 83.39, +4.43) helped improve the mood of market participants this morning when it added $0.20 to its first quarter earnings per share outlook. The global shipment company now believes that profits for its first fiscal quarter will range from $1.05 to $1.25 per share, which exceeds the consensus call of $1.01 per share. While the broader market showed a positive response to the announcement, gains were much more pronounced among industrial plays (+1.7%) and in the Dow Jones Transportation Index (+2.6%).

A near 24% month-over-month surge in new home sales increased interest in stocks. The stronger-than-expected spike in sales took the annualized rate to 330,000 for June. New home sales had been expected to hit a more modest annualized rate of 310,000 units after they recorded record lows in May. That helped the S&P homebuilder ETF (XHB 15.82, +0.40) outperform.

The positive headlines helped drive stocks higher, but resistance at the S&P 500's 200-day moving average kept a cap on gains until another round of buying helped the broad market measure settle above the key hurdle for the first time in one month.

Some market watchers will no doubt be quick to point out that participation was modest and that light volume can exaggerate the stock market's moves - hardly 1 billion shares trading hands on the NYSE. The lack of volume suggests that many investors prefer to remain on the sidelines amid uncertainty over whether stocks will hold recent gains or if the global economy's recovery effort is strong enough to warrant those gains in the first place.

There weren't any major earnings announcements for traders to digest this morning, but Genzyme (GENZ 67.38, +4.86) continues to find itself in the center of ongoing takeover chatter.

In other news, Tony Hayward, current CEO of embattled BP (BP 38.65, +1.79), will resign his position as company head in October. Speculation on the matter had started to intensify during the weekend.

It was an uneventful session for commodities as the CRB Commodity Index finished modestly (0.02%) higher. Grains (-1.6%) and livestock (-1.5%) were the session largest decliners, while industrials (+0.6%) and soft commodities (+0.5%) were the largest gainers.

Sept crude oil finished the session unchanged at $78.98 per barrel after it spent almost the entire day chopping around the flat line. Aug natural gas ended higher by 0.4% to $4.614 per MMBtu.

Aug gold closed lower by -0.6% to $1183.10 per ounce, while Sept silver closed up 0.4% to $18.20.

The euro had a strong session. Specifically, the currency climbed 0.7% against the greenback to settle near $1.30, which puts it within striking distance of its two-month high. Conversely, the Dollar Index dropped 0.5% to set its lowest level since early May.

Advancing Sectors: Industrials (+1.7%), Financials (+1.6%), Telecom (+1.5%), Consumer Discretionary (+1.5%), Health Care (+1.4%), Energy (+1.1%), Utilities (+0.7%), Tech (+0.6%), Materials (+0.5%), Consumer Staples (+0.4%)
Declining Sectors: (None) DJ30 +100.81 NASDAQ +26.96 NQ100 +0.8% R2K +2.2% SP400 +1.8% SP500 +12.35 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 2044/2.17 bln/639 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2442/1.02 bln/579