YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Today's lackluster session saw equities hover within points of the unchanged line for the majority of the day. Economic data was mostly positive, but did little to inspire investor confidence. As a result the S&P 500 ended higher by 0.1% on light volume.

The Federal Reserve has released its August Beige Book which aggregates economic condition reports from the twelve Federal Reserve Districts. The Book suggested "economic activity continued to expand gradually in July and early August." It also noted an improvement has taken place in credit conditions and the housing market. Sales and construction continue to rise gradually while employment is holding steady or showing only marginal improvement. Several Districts cited declining demand for staffing services while most Districts indicated that retail activity, including auto sales, had increased since the last Beige Book.

Healthcare stocks were higher as a handful of names advanced on upgrades. Genetic Technologies (GENE 3.93, +0.81) soared 26.0% after positive comments were made by boutique firm Lodge Partners. PROLOR Biotech (PBTH 4.88, +0.19) ended higher by 4.1% following the initiation of coverage at Oppenheimer where the stock was given an ‘outperform' rating with a $7.00 price target. Elsewhere, Cyberonics (CYBX 49.67, +3.31) advanced 7.1% as the shares were upgraded from ‘hold' to ‘buy' at Canaccord Genuity. In addition, analysts at Piper Jaffray elevated the price target for Cyberonics from $44.00 to $52.00.

For-profit education stocks slumped after Lincoln Educational Services (LINC 4.27, -0.09) was downgraded from ‘outperform' to ‘perform' at Oppenheimer. The downgrade was attributed to slowing enrollment as well as seven campus closures. As a result, shares of Lincoln slid 2.1%. Other for-profit education stocks were also lower as slowing enrollment will likely affect all providers. Career Education (CECO 3.22, -0.11) and DeVry (DV 18.60, -0.52) slipped 3.3% and 2.7%, respectively.

Yelp (YELP 22.37, +4.11) surged 22.5% as the share lock-up expired today. The event was anticipated by short sellers as it often leads to insider selling. However, Yelp was able to buck the trend and instead made an advance. Other social media names were mixed as Groupon (GRPN 4.31, -0.06) fell 1.4% and Pandora Media (P 10.08, -0.10) slipped 1.0% ahead of its earnings release after the close.

Energy stocks trailed behind the broader market as crude oil fell over 1.0%. Halliburton (HAL 33.51, -0.57) lost 1.7% while Schlumberger Limited (SLB 72.96, -1.14) ended lower by 1.6%. Meanwhile, GreenHunter Energy (GRH 2.24, +0.08) climbed 3.7% after eliminating all outstanding convertible preferred shares.

The second estimate of second quarter GDP pointed to a 1.7% increase, up from the 1.5% increase that was featured in the preliminary reading. The upwardly revised increase was better than the 1.6% improvement that economists polled by Briefing.com had expected. Also, the second quarter GDP Deflator was left unrevised to reflect a 1.6% increase.

Pending home sales for July increased by 2.4%, which was better than the unchanged reading that had been expected. The rise also made for a positive turn from the 1.4% decrease that was experienced in the prior month.

Tomorrow's economic data includes initial and continuing claims as well as personal income and spending. All data points will be released at 8:30 ET.

Crude oil touched a floor session high of $96.37 per barrel moments after pit trade opened but quickly fell back into the red. It trended lower and dipped to a session low of $94.76 per barrel in late morning action. Buyers stepped in during the afternoon floor session and brought prices up slightly and the energy component finally settled with a 0.8% loss at $95.50 per barrel. Crude's weakness came on weaker-than-anticipated inventory data that showed a build of 3.778 mln when a draw of 1.8 mln was expected. Expectations that disruption in oil production in the Gulf of Mexico from Hurricane Isaac will be limited also played a role in the decline.

Natural gas came off its pit session low of $2.61 per MMBtu that was set in morning action and trended higher for the remainder of floor trade. It booked a gain of 1.9% as it closed at $2.68 per MMBtu, just below its session high of $2.70 per MMBtu. A stronger dollar following better-than-expected U.S. GDP data put pressure on precious metals in today's floor trade.

Gold tumbled to a session low of $1654.40 per ounce in morning action and spent the remainder of the session working on erasing the loss. Despite inching higher, the yellow metal settled with a 0.4% loss at $1663.10 per ounce. Silver fell off its session high of $30.91 per ounce and brushed a session low of $30.52 per ounce. It then trended higher and closed just 0.2% lower at $30.83 per ounce.

The U.S. Treasury will hold a $29 billion 7-yr note auction.DJ30 +4.49 NASDAQ +4.05 SP500 +1.19 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1467/1.23 bln/966 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1781/509.4 mln/1168