YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks got off to a strong start before stumbling slightly when Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke did not hint at additional easing, but instead reaffirmed his commitment to act if economic conditions worsen. Mr. Bernanke commented on the stagnation of the labor market, calling it a "grave concern" which bears monitoring. While Bernanke wasn't expected to roll out a new round of quantitative easing at this venue, the discussion of the costs of nontraditional policies may temper expectations for additional easing in the absence of greater economic deterioration. As a result, the S&P 500 finished higher by 0.5%.

Shares of major financials were broadly higher early in the session. However, most names slipped off their highs after it became clear that additional quantitative easing is not imminent. Goldman Sachs (GS 105.72, +1.00) and American Express (AXP 58.30, +1.13) ended higher by 1.0% and 2.0%, respectively. Meanwhile, European financials saw even bigger advances as plans to create a Spanish "bad bank" surfaced. Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria (BBVA 7.53, +0.36) gained 5.0%, while Deutsche Bank (DB 35.45, +1.59) and Credit Suisse (CS 19.25, +0.68) advanced 4.7% and 3.7%, respectively.

Energy stocks outperformed the broader market with the S&P energy sector firmer by 0.9% as the fear of hurricane-related disruptions dissipates. Anadarko Petroleum (APC 69.27, +1.01), and EOG Resources (EOG 108.30, 2.41) added roughly 1.7%. Elsewhere in the sector, China Ming Yang Wind Power Group (MY 1.21, +0.06) jumped 5.2% after forming a joint venture to develop additional wind and solar power technology with Huaneng Renewables. On the downside, Arch Coal (ACI 6.11, -0.07) slipped 1.1% after announcing the company's Senior Vice President of Marketing, David Warnecke, will retire in May 2014.

Utility stocks underperformed the broader market as most names in the SPDR Utilities Select Sector ETF (XLU 36.35, -0.04) traded lower. PG&E (PCG 43.41, -0.15), Exelon (EXC 36.47, -0.12), and Southern Company (SO 45.33, -0.05) were all down near 0.3%. Meanwhile, U.S. listings of Brazilian utility companies were under heavy pressure as Centrais (EBR 6.50, -0.45), Companhia Paranaense de Energia (ELP 17.79, -0.71), and Cia Energetica de Minas Gerais (CIG 17.00, -0.84) slumping between 4.5% and 6.5%.

Facebook (FB 18.06, -1.03) fell 5.4% after Stifel Nicolaus said that despite attractive valuation, it may still be too early to invest in the company as insider selling continues. Today's selling has pushed the stock down to $18.06, which is the lowest price since the initial public offering in May. Zynga (ZNGA 2.80, -0.09) and Groupon (GRPN 4.15, -0.04), two companies which have recently held their initial public offerings, slid 3.1% and 1.0%, respectively. Zynga traded $0.15 above its all-time low, while Groupon marked fresh lows.

The volatility index, or VIX, shed 1.5%, to 17.56. Two weeks ago, the volatility measure marked a 5-year low at 13.45, and has been on a steady rise since. This week alone, the VIX has risen by 8.5%.

Today's economic data was mixed. The August Chicago PMI of 53.0 surprised to the downside as economists had generally expected a reading of 53.8 to follow the prior month's 53.7. Elsewhere, the University of Michigan's final Consumer Sentiment Survey for August rose to 74.3 from the 73.6 that was posted in the preliminary Survey. Separately, July Factory Orders showed an increase of 2.8%, which was better than the Briefing.com consensus of a 2.0% increase.

On Tuesday, the August ISM Index and July construction spending will be reported at 10:00 ET. In addition, August auto and truck sales will be released at 14:00 ET.

Week in Review: Markets Quiet Ahead of Jackson Hole

Monday's session began on a positive note before stocks retreated to the unchanged line. As the European markets closed for the day, U.S. stocks lifted to session highs, but the gains did not hold into the close. As a result, the S&P 500 finished flat on low volume while the Dow shed 0.3%. Apple (AAPL 665.24, +1.37) advanced 1.9% after winning its patent battle against Samsung.

On Tuesday, Equities spent the majority of the session within points of the unchanged line. The August consumer confidence report printed at 60.6, which was the lowest level in nine months. Following the report, stocks briefly turned lower before snapping back to the unchanged line where they held for the remainder of the session. Luxury goods maker Movado (MOV 35.16, +0.19) soared 17.4% after beating earnings expectations by $0.14 a share.

Wednesday's lackluster session saw equities hover within points of the flat 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. Yelp (YELP 22.00, +0.31) surged 22.5% despite the share lock-up expiry.

On Thursday, equities hit session lows during the first hour of trade before spending the rest of the day climbing off those levels. Headlines out of Europe indicated the International Monetary Fund sees a "major challenge" in implementing measures for Greece. Another comment which rattled the markets came from Slovak Prime Minister, Robert Fico, who suggested there is a 50% chance of a euro area breakup. The news resulted in a sharp sell-off in risk assets as crude oil, gold, silver, and the euro all fell to session lows.

Crude oil and precious metals reacted strongly to today's Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's Jackson Hole speech that indicated a willingness to act as needed and suggested that the labor market is a "great concern". Crude fell to its pit session low of $94.86 per barrel in reaction to the statement. However, prices quickly bounced back and continued to climb higher with the support of better-than-anticipated U.S. economic data. The energy component climbed as high as $97.01 per barrel and settled just below that level at $96.46 per barrel for a 0.3% weekly gain.

Natural gas came off its session low of $2.71 per MMBtu set moments after floor trade opened and trended upwards for the remainder of the day. It settled at its session high of $2.80 per MMBtu, booking a 2.6% gain for the week. 

Gold initially fell into negative territory and to a pit session low of $1647.10 per ounce. However, the move was short-lived and the yellow metal reversed sharply as investors digested the remarks. Gold continued to climb higher as floor trade progressed and hit a new high since April of $1688.30 per ounce. Today's strength had gold settle the week 0.9% higher at $1687.30 per ounce.

Silver also slid to a session low of $30.30 per ounce and reversed back into positive territory. It trended higher for the remainder of pit trade and finished at $31.44 per ounce, just below its session high of $31.52 per ounce, or 2.4% above last week's closing price.

Stocks were able to recover some of their losses before succumbing to late-day selling pressure which resulted in the S&P 500 closing lower by 0.8%. Costco Wholesale (COST 97.87, -0.72) advanced 1.5% after August same store sales increased by 6.0%.DJ30 +90.13 NASDAQ +18.25 SP500 +7.10 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1548/1.34 bln/920 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2065/746.1 mln/870