YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Tuesday's trade ended with modest losses for stocks. The slide came amid a small, but rather underwhelming dose of data.

Traders were largely inclined to take profits after stocks hit their best levels in more than one month during the prior session. In fact, a pronounced spell of selling dropped stocks for a loss of almost 1% in the first hour of trade as participants reacted to news that pending home sales for June fell 2.6% month-over-month. Though that was less severe than the 5.0% decrease that had been expected, on average, by a sample of economists polled by Briefing.com, many on Wall Street had anticipated an increase.

As for other data, factory orders for June fell a worse-than-expected 1.2%, while orders for May were revised lower to reflect a 1.8% decline.

Personal income, spending, and core personal consumption were flat in June. While income wasn't expected to change, a slight increase in spending had been anticipated.

Technical support near the 1117 line helped the S&P 500 rebound from its morning slide, but resistance at the neutral line kept it from turning positive. Once stocks were backed down again, they spent the rest of the session chopping along in muddled trade.

Materials stocks were in the worst shape this session. The sector shed 1.7% after Dow Chemical (DOW 25.50, -2.83) fell short of the consensus earnings estimate.

Financials fell 1.1%. The sector was dragged down by life and health insurers (-2.6%) after Principal Financial (PFG 24.80, -1.28) missed what Wall Street had projected for earnings. MasterCard (MA 200.91, -1.61) also slipped, even though it reported an upside earnings surprise. Mash & McLennan (MMC 23.93, +0.05) also posted a better-than-expected bottom line, but it managed to muster a slight gain.

Procter & Gamble (PG 59.94, -2.12) was the worst performer in the Dow this session. The consumer staples giant disappointed with an earnings miss.

In contrast, fellow Dow component Pfizer (PFE 16.25, +0.77) was a top performing blue chip after it exceeded earnings expectations for the latest quarter. Among blue chips, its shares were also the most actively traded by volume this session.

Biotech play and takeover target Genzyme (GENZ 70.20, -0.16) slipped in the face of reports that Sanofi-Aventis (SNY 30.17, +0.34) believes the company will not accept a buyout offer of less than $80 per share.

Collective strength among health care stocks helped the sector climb 0.8%.

Baker Hughes (BHI 43.66, -6.57) got a beat down after it reported earnings that were short of expectations. Still, the overall energy sector advanced 0.2%, thanks to oil's climb. Oil prices closed pit trade at $82.55 per barrel with a 1.5% gain after they set a new three-month high of $82.64 per barrel.

Automakers were out with their latest monthly sales figures. Ford Motor (F 12.91, -0.25) announced that sales for July increased 5% year-over-year. Honda Motor (HMC 32.73, -0.20) had a near 6% year-over-year decline in American sales, while Toyota Motor (TM 72.77, +0.73) reported a near 7% year-over-year decline in July sales.

In currency trade, the dollar dropped another 0.4% to breach its 200-day moving average and set a new three-month low. Most of its weakness was owed to the euro's 0.4% advance to its own three-month high.

The commodities pits saw mixed action this session. That left the CRB Commodity Index to lose less than 0.1% of its value.

Oil traded with strength for the entire session. The commodity climbed to a new three-month high of $82.64 per barrel before it settled at $82.55 per barrel with a 1.5% gain.

Natural gas initially attempted to rebound from its 4% loss in the prior session, but it inevitably succumbed to further selling to finish with a 1.0% loss at $4.65 per MMBtu.

Gold prices garnered modest support, such that the yellow metal closed with a tepid 0.2% gain at $1187.50 per ounce.

Meanwhile, silver settled flat at $18.42 per ounce.

Advancing Sectors: Health Care (+0.8%), Energy (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Materials (-1.7%), Consumer Discretionary (-1.3%), Financials (-1.1%), Consumer Staples (-0.7%), Industrials (-0.5%), Tech (-0.4%), Utilities (-0.3%), Telecom (-0.1%) DJ30 -38.00 NASDAQ -11.84 NQ100 -0.4% R2K -0.9% SP400 -0.8% SP500 -5.40 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 933/2.01 bln/1694 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1178/1.00 bln/1826