YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Another broad-based buying effort sent stocks through resistance to book their second straight gain ahead of the monthly nonfarm payrolls report.

Trade started on a flat note as market participants let the prior session's surge settle a bit. Major market averages in Asia advanced to catch up with Wall Street, but action was also lackluster in Europe, where it was announced that eurozone GDP increased 1.0% in the second quarter and that the European Central Bank (ECB) will keep its benchmark lending rate at 1.00%. ECB President Trichet stated that eurozone GDP for 2010 is now expected to grow in a range from 1.4% to 1.8%, up from the range 0.7% to 1.3%. For 2011, growth is now expected to range from 0.5% to 2.3%, up from 0.2% to 2.2%.

Early participants had little reason to alter their mood since the initial jobless claims count for the week ended August 28 came in at 472,000, which is in on par with the 475,000 initial claims that had been widely expected. The latest tally was also little changed from the prior week total of 478,000. Continuing claims saw a more substantial slip as they fell to 4.46 million from 4.48 million.

Final nonfarm productivity readings for the second quarter also offered little surprise. Productivity in the quarter fell 1.8%, which is in stride with the 1.7% decline that had been widely forecasted. Unit labor costs for the quarter increased 1.1%, as expected.

Pending home sales for July provided participants with a positive surprise. They posted a 5.2% monthly increase, which contrasts with the call for no change from economists polled by Briefing.com. That data overshadowed news that factory orders for July increased 0.1% instead of 0.3% as had been widely expected.

Stocks were able to garner support, but the S&P 500 struggled in the 1085 zone. That area provided resistance for most of the morning and afternoon, but buyers stepped up their efforts in the afternoon so that stocks settled at session highs.

The advance has the S&P 500 up nearly 4% in the first two days of September. That is almost enough to offset what was lost in August, but many market watchers want to see how stocks react to tomorrow's official nonfarm payrolls report before a call is made on whether market sentiment has improved, especially given the market's fickleness.

Trading volume was rather light this session. With fewer than 1 billion shares trading hands on the NYSE, it seems many investors are also cautious ahead of the payrolls report.

Of the trades that were made, volume was heaviest among large-cap tech and large-cap financials. Financials had lagged in the early going, but bounded in the afternoon so that the tech sector settled with a 1.0% gain. As for tech, it advanced 0.9% as semiconductor stocks spiked a collective 2.1%.

Retailers also had a strong session. As a group, they climbed 2.2%. Most of that move was owed to a large batch of better-than-expected same-store sales results for August.

Oct crude oil finished higher by 1.5% to $75.02 per barrel today, helped higher by news of a platform fire in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Crude rallied on concerns that another accident in the Gulf will give the government all the incentive to continue with the drilling moratorium until safety conditions can be stepped up. It finished just shy of its highs at $75.14. Oct natural gas closed flat on the day at $3.76 per MMBtuu.

Dec silver closed higher by 1.4% to $19.65 per ounce, while Dec gold gained 0.4% to end at $1252.80 per ounce. Silver traded to a fresh 3-month high today at $19.74.

Advancing Sectors: Consumer Discretionary (+1.8%), Industrials (+1.3%), Materials (+1.1%), Financials (+1.0%), Tech (+0.9%), Energy (+0.9%), Consumer Staples (+0.6%), Health Care (+0.6%), Telecom (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Utilities (-0.2%)DJ30 +50.63 NASDAQ +23.17 NQ100 +1.1% R2K +1.2% SP400 +1.3% SP500 +9.81 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1639/1.69 bln/952 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2102/960 mln/880