YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The broader market was dropped for a loss of more than 1% amid another bounce by the dollar, but some late session support helped stocks stage a strong swing higher into the close.

Speculation that any future measures of quantitative easing might be applied gradually or be smaller in scope than had been hoped propped up the dollar today. Its strength over competing currencies sent the Dollar Index up 0.5%, so that it is now up almost 3% from the 2010 low that it set less than two weeks ago.

Strength in the dollar overshadowed the latest round of earnings announcements, which were generally upbeat. In turn, participants actually drove the stock market down to a loss of more than 1% before an afternoon rally slashed losses and actually gave the Nasdaq a gain.

Strength in the Nasdaq was mostly owed to semiconductor stocks following better-than-expected earnings and strong guidance from Broadcom (BRCM 41.56, +4.34), which hit a new 52-week high and helped drive the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index 3.1% higher.

Comcast (CMCSA 20.27, +0.63) also provided leadership to the Nasdaq after it announced an upside earnings surprise of its own, but the broader market's reaction to other reports was less consistent.

Both Whirlpool (WHR 81.04, -3.48) and ConocoPhillips (COP 60.08, -0.74) posted upside earnings surprises, but each stock sold off while a bottom line beat by Northrop Grumman (NOC 61.38, +0.03) was met with indifference. Dow component Procter & Gamble (PG 63.08, +0.22) also beat on the bottom line, but it only attracted sustainable support into the close.

A positive earnings surprise from Aflac (AFL 56.39, +1.20) took shares of the insurer to a new 52-week high and provided leadership to financials, which mustered a 0.1% gain. It was the second best performing sector behind technology, which climbed 0.4%.

Of the sectors that logged losses, materials were hit the hardest. As a group they fell 0.9%, most of which was the result of a 2.7% loss among diversified metals and miners.

Data did little for stocks this session. Durable goods orders for September increased 3.3%, which is much better than the 1.8% increase that had been expected among economists polled by Briefing.com, but after excluding transportation, orders actually fell 0.8%, which contrasts with the consensus call for a 0.2% increase.

New home sales for September increased 6.6% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 307,000 units, which is greater than the rate of 299,000 units that had been expected among economists polled by Briefing.com.

Widespread weakness had the Volatility Index up more than 10% to trade near its 50-day moving average for the first time in about three weeks, but the stock market's late session run caused volatility to cool. In turn, the Volatility Index was up about 4% at the close of trade.

Even in the face of higher volatility and sizable losses among stocks, Treasuries never found support. In fact, pressure was so stiff in that space that the yield on the 10-year Note climbed to a one-month high of 2.72%, which is about where the Note closed.

For the second straight session Treasuries failed to find support in the wake of an auction of Notes. This time $35 billion in 5-year Notes were up for grabs. The auction drew a yield of 1.33% on a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.8 and an indirect participation rate of 39.5%.

The dollar was once again a major factor for the direction of trade in commodities. Precious metals, as a whole, shed 0.9%. Dec gold was the largest declining precious metal after it closed down 0.9% to $1322.60 per ounce. Dec silver settled down 0.8% to $23.40 per ounce.

Dec crude oil settled lower by 0.7% to $81.94 per barrel. This morning's substantially larger-than-expected build in inventories had little effect on prices today, as evidenced to the muted reaction to the data. Instead, crude oil once again focused on action in the dollar and equities. It did manage to recoup some of its losses heading into the close. Dec natural gas closed near the flat line at $3.77 per MMBtu.

Advancing Sectors: Tech (+0.4%), Financials (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Materials (-0.9%), Industrials (-0.7%), Energy (-0.6%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.5%), Consumer Staples (-0.5%), Utilities (-0.5%), Health Care (-0.5%), Telecom (-0.4%)DJ30 -43.18 NASDAQ +5.97 NQ100 +0.3% R2K -0.4% SP400 -0.1% SP500 -3.19 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 994/2.02 bln/1626 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1026/1.02 bln/1924