YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks traded in seesaw fashion this session, but ultimately scored a strong gain as the broad market settled at its high for the second straight day.

The stock market mounted an early advance that took it from a narrow loss to a gain of more than 1% in the early going. The move came without any clear catalyst or headline, but it was led largely by the financial sector. The financial sector's bounce was backed by diversified banks and financial services stocks, which rallied after suffering aggressive selling in recent sessions. Financials ultimately finished the day with a 2.8% gain.

The financial sector's impressive finish came only after the stock market had rolled over then drifted to a narrow loss by early afternoon trade. However, the broad market's refusal to extend its downturn encouraged buyers to return with another bid. The buying effort held steady into the finish of trade.

Energy stocks pulled back more than 1% before following the broad market into positive territory. Energy sectors were weighed down for most of the session as participants pared positions in oil and gas services names and integrated plays after watching the overall energy sector score a gain of more than 4% yesterday. As a group, energy stocks gained 0.4% today.

The latest weekly oil inventory numbers showed a net draw, which contrasts with the build that had been broadly expected. That helped oil prices climb as high as $86.59 per barrel, but the energy component inevitably closed pit trade with a 0.3% loss at $85.16 per barrel.

Elsewhere in the commodity complex, gold prices dropped 5.5% to $1757.30 per ounce after they had traded to almost $1920 per ounce earlier this week. The suddenness and steepness of gold's decline has some wondering whether the precious metal is merely seeing some profit taking or if its ascent to record levels has run its course. In the backdrop, though, is speculation about additional monetary policy tools that may come out of the Fed's meeting this week at Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Treasuries were also hit with aggressive selling pressure this session. That took the benchmark 10-year Note down more than a full point, pushing its yield closer to 2.30%. Selling accelerated in the wake of the latest Treasury auction, which featured the 5-year Note. The auction drew a bid-to-cover of 2.71, dollar demand of $94.9 billion, and an indirect bidder participation rate of 42.1%. For comparison, an average of the past six auctions resulted in a bid-to-cover of 2.78, dollar demand of $97.2 billion, and an indirect bidder rate of 39.8%.

Even though gold and Treasuries -- two traditional safe havens -- were clipped today, a 2.0% gain by utilities (second only to financials) suggests that many market participants are still attracted to the sector's relative safety and rich dividend yield.

Amid concerns about the global economy and fiscal practices, analysts at Moody's announced a single-notch downgrade in Japan's debt rating to Aa3. As an aside, Japan has planned to make $100 billion available to firms impacted by the yen's inflation.

The latest dose of economic data featured a 0.7% decline in New Industrials Orders from the Eurozone. However, domestic durable goods orders for July spiked by 4.0%, which is more than double the 1.9% clip that had been expected among economists polled by Briefing.com. Durable goods orders less transportation increased by 0.7%, which contrasts with the 0.6% decline that had been commonly expected.

It was a large down day for precious metals, as market participants took profits ahead of the Fed meeting in Jackson Hole on Friday. Dec gold settled lower by 5.5% to $1757.30, while Sept silver dropped 5.5% to close at$39.17. Both metals were initially pressured by better than expected econ data. Late session weakness pushed both metals to their lowest levels. Gold has since put in fresh lows in electronic trade at $1751.60. Silver futures put in lows at $39.09 heading into the close and ended just above those lows This morning's unexpected draw down, versus consensus for a build, caused Oct crude oil, which shed 0.3% to settle at $85.16 per barrel, to spike to its highs at $86.59. However, that move was short lived as futures immediately gave up those gains to trade back to the flat line, where they closed on the day. While modest strength in equities, better-than-expected econ data, and this morning's inventory data all initially helped futures trade higher, the market appears to be taking a 'wait and see' approach to Friday's Fed meeting. Sept natural gas settled lower by 1.5% to $3.93 per MMBtu.

Advancing Sectors: Financials +2.8%, Utilities +2.0%, Industrials +2.0%, Consumer Discretionary +1.7%, Materials +1.3%, Telecom +1.3%, Health Care +1.2%, Tech +0.8%, Consumer Staples +0.4%, Energy +0.4%
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +143.95 NASDAQ +21.63 NQ100 +0.7% R2K +1.4% SP400 +1.4% SP500 +15.25 NASDAQ