YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The major equity averages were up more than 1% this morning, but some afternoon selling caused the market to wobble. Still, stocks managed to hold on for varied gains.

An improved mood among investors in both Europe and at home has perpetuated further buying interest during recent sessions. That carried over into trade this morning, such that buyers barely reacted to the August ADP Employment Change, which indicated that private payrolls increased by 91,000 when the consensus among economists polled by Briefing.com had called for an increase of 100,000.

In contrast to the prior session, financials provided leadership to the broad market, but the sector's strength wasn't enough to carry stocks through resistance around the 50% retracement of the market's July-August trading range. Stocks gradually descended from there, but buyers resurfaced once stocks slipped into the red. Their efforts were challenged in the final few minutes, but the market managed to hold on for a gain.

Late support helped the stock market lock in its fourth straight gain, or seventh advance in eight sessions. During those eight sessions the S&P 500 has climbed about 8.5%. Despite such a feat, the S&P 500 actually ended August 5.7% lower. The stock market hasn't had such a poor monthly performance since it fell 8.2% in May 2010.

For the month, financials and energy stocks were the worst performers. Both sectors ended August about 10% below their beginning levels. Utilities were actually the best performers of August. They managed to advance 1.7% as a group. Their strength was largely due to the preference of participants for steady businesses and relatively rich dividend yields amid all of the volatility in the first half of the month.

Telecom plays had also traded with strength in the face of volatility, but still ended the month with a 1.4% loss. Part of that is due to a 1.6% drop today. AT&T (T 28.48, -1.14) weighed on the space following word that the Justice Department is challenging the company's acquisition of T-Mobile.

It was a very uneventful session for Dec gold, which settled slightly lower at $1831.70 per ounce, and Sept silver, which gained 0.4% to finish at $41.77 per ounce, as both metals chopped around the flat line. The metals did manage to rally off the flat line to put in highs intraday, at $1842.70 and $42.09 respectively, but were unable to hold on to most of those gains after pulling back toward the flat line heading into the close. Trade tomorrow could be muted as well as the markets await Friday's jobs data.

Similar to trade in gold and silver, crude oil settled near unchanged at $88.81 per ounce. This morning's inventory data showed a larger than expected build in crude inventories and a larger than expected draw down in gasoline inventories and that caused for little reaction in futures, which closed just above unchanged. Oct natural gas rallied 3.7% to settle at $4.05 per MMBtu. Natural gas turned its attention to tropical storm Katia, currently out in the Atlantic. The NHC updated its forecast today, which said Katia is likely to become a hurricane later today. Futures put in highs at $4.07 in morning trade, their best levels since Aug 12, and spent the remainder of the day chopping around just shy of those levels.

Advancing Sectors: Financials +1.2%, Utilities +0.7%, Energy +0.7%, Industrials +0.7%, Health Care +0.7%, Consumer Discretionary +0.6%, Materials +0.3%, Consumer Staples +0.3%, Tech +0.1%
Declining Sectors: Telecom -1.6%DJ30 +53.58 NASDAQ +3.35 NQ100 +0.2% R2K -0.2% SP400 +0.3% SP500 +5.97 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1277/1.99 bln/1284 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1971/1.27 bln/1066