YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Renewed selling pressure caused stocks to slump today. That offset the prior session's climb.

Stocks were under pressure ahead of the open as premarket traders reacted to news that Apple (AAPL 373.72, -2.46) will lose its heralded CEO, Steve Jobs, and that the latest initial jobless claims tally totaled 417,000, which is greater than the 400,000 claims that had been generally anticipated among economists polled by Briefing.com. But then news surfaced that Warren Buffett is investing $5 billion of Berkshire Hathaway's cash in Bank of America (BAC 7.65, +0.66) preferred stock. According to CNBC, Buffett's bid was a vote of confidence in both the company and the U.S.

The idea that the billionaire investment guru sees value in shares of BAC, which has suffered several steep losses in recent weeks, brought about a flurry of buying interest just before the session's start. The effort carried over into the open, such that the financial sector surged more than 3% within the first 10 minutes of trade.

Leadership from the financial sector helped the broad market climb to an early gain of more than 1%, but the market quickly reversed course then spent the rest of the session contending with selling pressure.

Selling interest was partly stoked by speculation that Germany, Europe's most robust and diverse economy, could lose its AAA credit rating, although the major rating agencies were quick to affirm Germany's top-tier rating. Others were interested in locking in the strong gains of the past two sessions, 1.3% and 3.4%, respectively, for fear of how stocks will react to the Fed's statement tomorrow from Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Pressure persisted into the close. As has been the case in the past couple of sessions, participants leaned in the direction of trade late in the day. That caused stocks to settle at session lows.

Energy stocks slumped more than 2%, which made for the worst performance of any sector. Energy stocks also underperformed in the prior session, but they still head into Friday with a week-to-date gain of about 2%, thanks mostly to a surge of more than 4% on Tuesday.

Gold prices were initially pared this morning, but the stock market's reversal into the red prompted participants to rotate back into the precious metal. In turn, gold prices climbed to close the session with a 0.3% gain at $1762.80 per ounce. Silver was even stronger -- it surged 4.1% to $40.78 per ounce.

Gold prices were down this morning, but the stock market's reversal into the red prompted participants to rotate back into the yellow metal. In turn, gold prices climbed to close the session with a 0.3% gain at $1762.80 per ounce. Silver was even stronger; it surged 4.1% to $40.78 per ounce.

Energy prices fared fairly well this session. Specifically, oil prices closed pit trade with a 0.3% gain at $85.42 per barrel. Natural gas prices settled 0.3% higher at $3.93 per MMBtu, despite a bigger-than-expected weekly inventory build of 73 bcf.

Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Energy (-2.2%), Consumer Discretionary (-2.0%), Industrials (-1.8%), Telecom (-1.7%), Health Care (-1.7%), Tech (-1.6%), Utilities (-1.5%), Consumer Staples (-1.5%), Materials (-1.0%), Financials (-0.5%)DJ30 -170.89 NASDAQ -48.06 NQ100 -1.7% R2K -2.6% SP400 -2.2% SP500 -18.33 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 504/1.79 bln/2070 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 731/1.21 bln/2313