YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Better-than-expected domestic manufacturing data gave stocks a boost in the early going, but resistance triggered selling pressure that eventually intensified amid a weakened financial sector.

The first few minutes of trade lacked leadership. Participants were taking into account the latest initial jobless claims tally, which totaled 409,000. That was in stride with the 407,000 claims that had been widely anticipated. An upward revision to the prior week's count helped inflate the four-week moving average to 410,250.

Revised unit labor costs for the second quarter were also released ahead of the open. They showed a 3.3% increase, down from the 6.2% increase that had been posted in the preliminary report. A 2.4% hike had been expected.

A 1.3% decline in construction spending during July contrasted with the consensus call for no change, but that was ignored amid the ISM Manufacturing Index for August. The Index fell to 50.6 from 50.9 in the prior month, but it still bested the 48.5 that had been expected, on average, among economists polled by Briefing.com. Although the health of domestic manufacturing exceeded what had been anticipated, PMI Manufacturing readings from both Germany and France disappointed.

Stocks reacted positively to the ISM's upside surprise, but the broad market was quickly brushed back when the S&P 500 failed to break through resistance near the 1230 region, which represents the 50% retracement level of the July high to August low. Stocks then hugged the neutral line for a few hours before drifting into the red.

The major averages fell another leg lower and drifted downward into the close after it was learned that Goldman Sachs (GS 112.16, -4.06) is the target of a formal enforcement action by the Fed regarding residential mortgage loan servicing and foreclosure processing. Financials, which had already been lagging, suffered a 2.4% loss as a result of pressure against investment banks and brokerages.

Retailers were also pressured sharply. Their collective loss totaled more than 2%, as measured by the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 48.50, -1.10), in the wake of the latest round of same-store sales results. The majority of retail players reported stronger-than-expected results, but that mattered little amid broad market weakness.

Participants were generally unwilling to offer support into the close. Their caution comes as some begin to wonder if stocks are due for some selling after they entered today's trade riding an upward trend that led to seven gains in eight sessions. What's more, there is a sense of uncertainty related to the latest non-farm payrolls report, which is due tomorrow. Even though the ADP Employment Change proved solid when it was released earlier this week, many traders remain cautious about what may be in store for tomorrow.

It was another choppy session for the precious metals. Dec gold settled lower by 0.1% to $1829.70 per ounce, while Dec silver gained shed 0.2% to finish at $41.66 per ounce. Both metals traded to their lowest levels of the session, at $1815.50 ad $41.20 respectively, in midmorning trade. Gold spent the remainder of the session recouping those losses and closed near unchanged ahead of tomorrow's NFP data. Silver futures recouped their sell-off rather quickly and spent the remainder of the day chopping around the flat line.

Headlines that operators in the Gulf of Mexico are evacuating non-essential personnel due to the formation of a tropical wave and tropical storms in the area helped Oct crude oil, which settled up 0.1% to $88.93 per barrel, recoup modest losses. After a modest stint in positive territory, futures pulled back to the flat line where they closed on the session. Oct natural gas closed lower by 0.5% to $4.03 per MMBtu.

Advancing Sectors: (None)
Declining Sectors: Financials -2.4%, Industrials -1.6%, Consumer Discretionary -1.3%, Materials -1.3%, Tech -1.1%, Telecom -1.0%, Energy -0.9%, Health Care -0.7%, Utilities -0.6%, Consumer Staples -0.4%DJ30 -119.96 NASDAQ -33.42 NQ100 -1.0% R2K -2.5% SP400 -1.7% SP500 -14.47 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 516/1.74 bln/2026 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 801/1.02 bln/2227