YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks edged their way higher through the first half of the session, but they lost direction in afternoon trade. The major averages still settled with solid gains, though.

Early support was underpinned by strong gains in Europe, where participants responded positively to news that of strong demand at a Portuguese debt auction. The successful debt offering also won modest support for the euro, which finished the day with a 0.3% gain against the greenback. The British pound saw an even bigger gain of 0.7% versus the dollar.

BP Plc (BP 38.37, +1.18) released results from an internal investigation on the events leading up to the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. The company concluded that no single factor was responsible.

Domestic news was light, but there were reports that Goldman Sachs (GS 147.54 +2.33) is in talks with several firms about its Principal Strategies prop trading group. However, the nature of the talks may not lead Goldman Sachs to actually sell the unit. Strength in shares of GS helped drive investment bank and brokerages stocks to a 1.4% gain.

Regional banks were the strongest performers in the financial sector. The group rallied 2.5% after falling 3.9% in the prior session. Their rebound helped the financial sector tack on 1.1%, which was the biggest percentage gain of any of the major sectors in the S&P 500.

Utilities made up the only sector to settle in the red. They lost 0.5% after outperforming in the prior session.

Broad-based strength helped stocks remain strong into the close, though some afternoon volatility led the major indices to finish off of their highs with varied gains.

Economic data was generally inconsequential as stocks showed little reaction to the Fed's latest Beige Book, which is generally a collection of anecdotal data from the various Fed districts. One of the more notable takeaways from the Beige Book was that consumer spending has increased, on balance. However, discretionary purchases continue to be governed by caution.

Consumer credit data was released at the close. After falling $1.0 billion in June, July data showed that credit fell another $3.6 billion. Consumer credit has tightened for six straight months and in 17 of the last 18 months.

A $21 billion auction of 10-year Notes drew a yield of 2.67%, which is below what had been anticipated, but the bid-to-cover proved strong at 3.2. The indirect bidder participation take of 54.7% was the best since September 2009.

Participation on the part of traders remains extremely unimpressive. Specifically, this was the fourth straight session that share volume on the NYSE failed to break 1 billion. That has helped drag down the 50-day moving average to less than 1.1 billion shares. Just two months ago the 50-day moving average for trading volume on the NYSE stood at 1.5 billion.

The CRB Commodity Index finished modestly better today, despite the sizeable 1.5% sell of in the grains sector. Dec wheat futures plunged 3.3% to close at $7.11 per bushel on news of a bullish supply report in Canada.

Oct crude oil futures closed higher by 0.6% to $74.67 per barrel, after it pulled back from its best levels of the session heading into the close. Oct natural gas closed down 0.9% to $3.813 in what was an uneventful session. Dec silver closed higher by 0.3% to $20.01 per ounce. It traded to a fresh ~2.5 year high at $20.10, but sold off from those highs heading into the close.

Dec gold ended lower by 0.2% to $1257.50 per ounce. It put in highs at $1264.70 earlier in the session, just points from the continuous contract all time high at $1266.50, but gave back those gains to close modestly lower on the day.

Advancing Sectors: Financials (+1.1%), Industrials (+1.0%), Energy (+0.9%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.7%), Materials (+0.7%), Telecom (+0.6%), Health Care (+0.5%), Tech (+0.4%), Consumer Staples (+0.4%)
Declining Sectors: Utilities (-0.5%)DJ30 +46.32 NASDAQ +19.98 NQ100 +1.3% R2K +0.8% SP400 +0.6% SP500 +7.03 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1725/2.03 bln/882 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2082/879 mln/896