YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks overcame a relatively weak start to book another round of big gains, which have resulted in the market's best back-to-back performance in more than a month.

Momentum from the prior session's late surge was tested at the open, when participants contradicted the positive tone of premarket trade to send stocks into the red for the first few minutes of trade. Buyers took little time to step back in, though.

Favor for tech stocks and natural resource plays was the strongest. Tech, which offered leadership for the second straight session, helped the Nasdaq outpace its counterparts on its way to a gain of more than 2%. Yahoo! (YHOO 15.92, +1.46) was a high flyer in response to rumors that Microsoft (MSFT 25.89, +0.55) is interested in the company. Later reports refuted the rumor.

Materials stocks, which lack any kind of meaningful market weight, swung up to a 4.2% gain. Energy stocks climbed to a 3.3% gain, helped along by a spike in crude oil prices, which settled pit trade with at almost $79.70 per barrel for a gain of more than 5% following a weekly inventory report that featured a surprisingly large draw.

Financials dragged on trade for most of the session and were even the cause of a midsession pullback. Down more than 2% at its low, the sector spent all by the final 30 minutes of the day in negative territory as diversified financial services stocks and investment banks more than offset strength among insurers. However, the sector managed to bounce as the broad market staged the last leg of its climb into the close. Financials finished with a gain of more than 1%.

The stock market's final push into the close helped stocks settle near session highs. Stocks have now climbed 4% over the course of the past two sessions.

In the backdrop of today's action, an ADP Employment Change report showed that private payrolls increased by 91,000, which bested the Briefing.com consensus call for an increase of 45,000. The report offers an encouraging preview of the official nonfarm payrolls report, which will be released Friday morning.

The ISM Services Index for September was less exciting. It registered slipped to 53.0 from 53.3 in the prior month, but still narrowly exceeded the 52.8 that had been expected, on average, among economists polled by Briefing.com.

Crude oil futures, which rallied for 5.1% to settle at $79.68 per barrel, snapped a three session losing streak to post sizeable gains today on the back of this morning's bullish inventory data. The data, which showed a draw down versus consensus for a build, helped crude add to overnight gains and traded as high as $79.79 before closing. Natural gas futures ended lower by 7 cents at $3.57 per MMBtu, as they traded steadily lower through the session.

Following yesterday's sell-off, the precious metals rebounded today, with gold posting gains of 1.6% to end at $1641 per ounce and silver finishing higher by 1.8% at $30.35 per ounce. Gold futures rallied sharply off the flat line in afternoon trade, while silver futures traded steadily higher throughout the afternoon

Advancing Sectors: Materials +4.2%, Energy +3.3%, Tech +2.4%, Industrials +2.2%, Consumer Discretionary +1.8%, Health Care +1.6%, Financials +1.2%, Consumer Staples +0.2%
Unchanged: Utilities
Declining Sectors: Telecom -0.3%DJ30 +131.24 NASDAQ +55.69 NQ100 +2.5% R2K +1.5% SP400 +2.1% SP500 +20.09 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1761/2.47 bln/798 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2234/1.19 bln/800