YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Market participants had another fickle response to the latest round of earnings. That left the S&P 500 to trade listlessly in a narrow range near the neutral line. Despite that, the tech-rich Nasdaq staged a strong gain, as did small-cap and mid-cap stocks.

The S&P 500 spent several hours of this session confined to a three-point trading range just into positive territory, but managed to eke out a slight gain into the close. Though that only netted the stock market a 0.4% weekly gain, it was the third straight weekly advance and the seventh of the past eight weeks.

During the past two months the stock market has climbed close to 11%. Tech stocks had the most influence in that move, given that they represent the largest sector by market weight and that their 16% advance in that time was better than any other major sector.

Tech stocks traded with modest, but steady gains for most of this week's final session. They settled 0.6% higher with considerable help from semiconductor plays, which collectively climbed 2.0%.

Semiconductor stocks also supported the Nasdaq, as did Baidu.com (BIDU 107.28, +4.80) and Amazon.com (AMZN 169.13, +4.16), both of which hit record highs on the back of better-than-expected earnings.

Strength among small-cap stocks and mid-cap stocks helped the Russell 2000 and S&P 400 both book gains of 0.8%, which was better than that of the broader market. Clarient (CLRT 4.97, +1.23) led small-caps amid news it will be acquired by GE Healthcare for $5 per share. Compuware (CPWR 9.92, +1.10) led mid-caps after it posted an upside earnings surprise.

Among the more widely held names, American Express (AXP 39.03, -1.24), Honeywell (HON 47.26, +0.59), and Schlumberger (SLB 67.77, +3.46) also reported better-than-expected earnings. A positive response to SLB's report helped prop up the energy sector, which advanced 0.7%.

Defensive-oriented utilities and telecom lagged all session. They settled with losses of 0.6% and 0.3%, respectively. Exelon (EXC 42.00, -1.52) weighed heavily on electric utilities after it reported an earnings miss. Verizon (VZ 32.09, -0.43) failed to find support after it posted an upside earnings surprise.

The dollar managed to recover from a modest loss this morning, but did little thereafter. As such, it finished flat, though that may be due to the G-20 meeting, which could open up a discussion on trade policy and or currency manipulation.

This session's lackluster action kept a lot of traders on the sidelines. In turn, trading volume on the NYSE came in near 770 million shares, a one-month low.

The CRB Commodity Index advanced 0.6% to book its ninth straight weekly gain, which came in at 0.4% this week.

Most of this session's move was due to a 1.4% climb in oil prices to $81.67 per barrel. That was still close to $2 shy of their weekly highs, though.

Natural gas prices extended their slide to new annual lows. Prices settled 1.1% lower at $3.33 per MMBtu.

Precious metals had an unexciting session that saw gold and silver settle fractionally lower at $1324.90 and $23.12 per ounce, respectively.

Advancing Sectors: Energy (+0.7%), Tech (+0.6%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.5%), Consumer Staples (+0.3%), Financials (+0.1%), Health Care (+0.1%), Industrials (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Utilities (-0.6%), Materials (-0.6%), Telecom -0.3%)DJ30 -14.01 NASDAQ +19.72 NQ100 +0.7% R2K +0.8% SP400 +0.8% SP500 +2.82 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1660/1.66 bln/942 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1758/772 mln/1172