YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks opened unchanged before falling into the red after today's economic data missed expectations. The August ISM Index was reported at 49.6 versus the 50.0 Briefing.com consensus, while July construction spending fell 0.9% month-over-month, against the expected increase of 0.5%. After reaching session lows 90 minutes after the open, stocks staged a slow climb higher which was punctuated by a broad-based mid-afternoon rally. Stocks rallied back near the flat line where they remained until the end of the day. As a result, the S&P 500 slipped 0.1% while Nasdaq gained 0.3%.

The telecom sector outperformed as Cincinnati Bell (CBB 5.06, +0.37) surged 7.9% after Raymond James upgraded the stock from ‘outperform' to ‘strong buy.' Elsewhere in the sector, shares of Verizon (VZ 43.70, +0.76) tacked on 1.8% after the company announced recent activation of its 4G LTE network coverage in Binghamton and Catskill, New York. Other names like CenturyLink (CTL 42.72, +0.46) and Windstream (WIN 9.97, +0.10) were up roughly 1.0% as investors rotated into safer, higher-yielding stocks.

The materials sector was the day's worst performer after the disappointing July construction spending numbers. The group's weakness was most apparent among steel producers as AK Steel (AKS 5.02, -0.20), Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF 33.68, -2.16), and United States Steel (X 18.78, -0.67) dipped between 3.4% and 6.0%. The negative construction spending data weighed on steelmakers despite two prominent producers reaching labor deals with union workers. United States Steel has reached a tentative agreement with United Steelworkers on a three year contract while Cliffs Natural Resources agreed to a short-term labor contract extension while negotiations continue.

Coal stocks were under heavy pressure after analysts at Dahlman Rose downgraded Peabody Energy (BTU 20.90, -0.73), Alpha Natural Resources (ANR 5.53, -0.41), and Walter Energy (WLT 30.73, -1.97) from ‘buy' to ‘hold.' The three names were down between 3.0% and 7.0% following the downgrades. The weakness spilled over to other coal names such as Arch Coal (ACI 5.79, -0.32), which slumped 5.2%. Elsewhere, CONSOL Energy (CNX 28.83, -1.37) slipped 4.5% as it moved with peers and on the news it will temporarily idle its Buchanan Mine in southwestern Virginia.

Three Nasdaq components were on the move following new analyst comments. Graphic chip producer, NVIDIA (NVDA 13.27, -0.75) slid 5.4% after being downgraded from ‘equal weight' to ‘underweight' by Evercore. In addition, Susquehanna downgraded NVIDIA from ‘positive' to ‘neutral.' Meanwhile, GameStop (GME 20.41, +1.33) ended higher by 7.0% following a Goldman Sachs upgrade from ‘neutral' to ‘buy.' Elsewhere, TiVo (TIVO 9.54, +0.45) advanced 5.0% after JP Morgan upgraded the stock from ‘neutral' to ‘overweight.'

Netflix (NFLX 55.93, -3.79) fell 6.4% after Amazon (AMZN 247.88, -0.39) announced a new Prime instant video agreement with Epix. The agreement is expected to increase competition in online video streaming as it takes aim at the core business of Netflix.

Shares of major financials were mixed as most listings traded in-line with the broader market. However, a handful of names outperformed. Morgan Stanley (MS 15.51, +0.51) gained 3.4% after being upgraded by JP Morgan and Credit Agricole. In addition, Goldman Sachs (GS 106.41, +0.69) tacked on 0.7% despite being downgraded from ‘neutral' to ‘underweight' at JP Morgan.

Crude oil lost its overnight momentum and fell into negative territory as equity markets opened. The energy component plunged even further on weaker-than-expected manufacturing and construction spending data. It touched a pit session low of $94.97 per barrel and settled for a 1.2% loss at $95.34 per barrel.

Natural gas, on the other hand, came off its session low of $2.79 per MMBtu and climbed into positive territory moments after floor trade opened. It advanced to a session high of $2.89 per MMBtu in early morning action and spent the remainder of the session chopping around just below that level. Natural gas eventually settled 2.1% higher at $2.86 per MMBtu. Precious metals extended last week's gains in today's pit trade.

Gold brushed a session low of $1690.10 per ounce moments after equity markets opened but broke above the $1700.00 per ounce mark following the U.S. economic data mentioned above. The yellow metal peaked at $1701.60 per ounce and then slightly pulled-back. Even with a stronger dollar index, gold booked a 0.5% gain as it closed at $1696.10 per ounce.

Silver spent its morning floor session trading in a rather consolidative pattern and started inching higher in the last hour of floor trade. It finished 3.1% higher at $32.40 per ounce, just below its session high of $32.44 per ounce.

Tomorrow's economic data includes the MBA Mortgage Index at 7:00 ET and both nonfarm productivity and unit labor costs which will be reported at 8:30 ET.DJ30 -54.90 NASDAQ +8.10 SP500 -1.64 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1508/1.47 bln/954 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1773/639.2 mln/1229