YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Strength in the early going had the stock market up 1% to trade near its five-month high, but the mix of a stronger dollar, technical resistance, and uncertainty ahead of this week's major events left stocks to slide and nearly finish with a loss.

Trade ended on a flat note last week, but buyers were brought back into the mix by data. Manufacturing data out of China was impressive as the country's PMI improved to a six-month high of 54.7. That was complemented by domestic data that showed an October ISM Manufacturing Index of 56.9, which marked also marked a six-month high and exceeded the 54.0 that had been widely expected.

U.S. construction spending for September was also strong. It increased 0.5% when a 0.7% decline had been expected to follow a downwardly revised 0.2% decline in the prior month.

Income and spending data was rather disappointing, but participants shrugged it off anyway. September personal income slipped 0.1% and spending increased a tepid 0.2% -- the consensus had called for a 0.2% increase in income and a 0.4% increase in spending. Core personal consumption expenditures for September were flat, as expected, though.

The collective body of data helped drive the S&P 500 to within less than one point of its best level since May, but the move was unable to push through resistance in that zone.

At the same time stocks ran into resistance they had to grapple with a bounce by the greenback, which was also spurred higher by today's data since it could help make the case for smaller steps toward further quantitative easing.

It is widely expected that the FOMC will announce some sort of plan to augment monetary policy on Wednesday, but the size and scope of the plan remains a mystery. Participants are also brooding over the implications of midterm elections and the latest monthly payrolls report on Friday.

Uncertainty about what will unfold this week also kept many investors on the sidelines. In turn, trading volume on the NYSE did not even break 1 billion shares.

Those that did trade left to surrender all of their gains and then some as the stock market actually fell to a modest loss in late trade. Though it recovered, the stock market's fractional gain paled in comparison to what it had sported in the early going.

Energy stocks had been early leaders with a 1.5% gain at their session high, but they settled just 0.3% for the better. Baker Hughes (BHI 48.37, +1.95) was one of the best performers in the group, thanks to an upside earnings surprise.

Though defensive oriented, utilities underperformed by a wide margin. The sector's 0.9% slide was also its worst loss in more than a month.

Dec natural gas shed 4.9% today to settle at $3.84 per MMBtu. It was quite an interesting session for natural gas futures, which traded to its best levels, at $4.187, before falling over 9% throughout the day to its lowest levels at $3.825. The dramatic sell off ended a three session rally for natural gas prices. Dec crude oil finished higher by 2% to $82.95 per barrel. It spiked to its highs of the session, at $83.86, shortly after the open of pit trade and spent the remainder of the day chopping around just shy of those highs.

Dec gold finished lower by 0.6% to $1350.60 per ounce, while Dec silver closed off 0.1% to $24.55 per ounce. Both metals were pressured lower throughout the day as the dollar moved higher. In overnight trade, Dec silver futures traded to a fresh 30-year high at $25.05 per ounce.

Advancing Sectors: Tech (+0.4%), Telecom (+0.4%), Energy (+0.3%), Health Care (+0.2%), Industrials (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Utilities (-0.9%), Consumer Staples (-0.1%)
Unchanged: Consumer Discretionary, Materials, FinancialsDJ30 +6.13 NASDAQ -2.57 NQ100 +0.2% R2K -0.7% SP400 -0.2% SP500 +1.12 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 971/1.92 bln/1684 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1556/958 mln/1405