YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: High-quality quarterly reports from a couple of large-cap tech names positioned stocks for a strong start to the week's final session, but some disappointing data led to lackluster action and an anticlimactic close in the face of quadruple witching options expiration.

Better-than-expected earnings and strong forecasts from both Oracle (ORCL 27.48, +2.12 and Research In Motion (RIMM 46.72, +0.23) helped tech stocks climb 0.5% to lock in a weekly gain of 4.4% and record their eighth straight advance. Texas Instruments (TXN 25.72, +0.74) helped the sector with an announcement that it will add 8% to its dividend and earmark for share repurchases $7.5 billion, which is almost equal to a quarter of the company's current market cap.

Strength among tech issues helped the Nasdaq remain in positive territory for virtually the entire session, even after it was undercut by the preliminary Consumer Sentiment Survey for September from the University of Michigan. The Survey slipped to 66.6 from 68.9 in August. On average, economists polled by Briefing.com had expected that the September reading would come in at 70.0.

Consumer price data was generally disregarded. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for August increased 0.3% month-over-month, while core prices went unchanged month-over-month. The consensus among economists polled by Briefing.com had called for a 0.2% increase in overall consumer prices and a tepid 0.1% increase in core prices.

Weakness among financials and energy stocks offset the tech sector's strength in the broader market. Financials (-0.5%) were bogged down by losses among diversified financial services stocks, which dropped 1.5%. Energy stocks (-0.5%) were primarily hampered by refiners, which fell 1.5%, though coal producer Massey Energy (MEE 29.94, -2.42) was a particularly heavy drag on the sector after it issued a disappointing outlook.

Mixed interest in the broader market left the S&P 500 to spend most of Friday's session near the neutral line after it had made an early move through key resistance levels to a new four-month high. The benchmark Index still managed to finish the week with a cumulative gain of 1.4%, though.

Share volume was extraordinarily robust. With more than 1.8 billion shares exchanged on the NYSE, this session's total was more than double the average daily count for the past 10 sessions. The surge in share count stemmed from a quadruple witching options expiration.

Despite the surge in share volume, volatility was contained. In fact, the Volatility Index was never up more than 4% and it ended the day just 1.3% higher.

The CRB Commodity Index returned to its one-month high earlier today, but backed off of that mark to settle with a 0.3% gain.

A 1.2% drop in oil prices to $73.66 per barrel was a primary driver in the CRB's pullback. Oil prices had actually opened pit trade near the neutral line. Lower natural gas prices didn't help; they fell 1.1% to $4.02 per MMBtu.

Precious metals proved supportive, though. Gold prices gained 0.3% to close at $1278 per ounce. The continuous contract actually set a new record high of $1282.50 per ounce in overnight trade. After silver set a new 30-month high of $21.03 per ounce in overnight trade it slipped shortly after the start of pit trade. It recovered to close with a 0.3% gain at $20.83 per ounce.

Advancing Sectors: Industrials (+0.9%), Telecom (+0.6%), Tech (+0.5%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.3%)
Declining Sectors: Energy (-0.5%), Financials (-0.5%), Consumer Staples (-0.1%), Utilities (-0.1%)
Unchanged: Health Care, MaterialsDJ30 +13.02 NASDAQ +12.36 NQ100 +0.4% R2K +0.6% SP400 +0.3% SP500 +0.93 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1546/2.57 bln/1116 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1774/1.86 bln/1214