YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Equities began the day on a down note after Moody's cut France's sovereign rating to ‘Aa1' from ‘Aaa.' In addition, disappointing earnings from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ 11.71, -1.59) contributed to the cautious sentiment. The major averages managed to break into positive territory by midday, but tumbled to fresh lows as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke spoke in front of the Economic Club of New York. During his remarks, Mr. Bernanke commented on the fiscal cliff by saying that if a resolution is not reached, the economy would slide into recession. In such case, the Federal Reserve would be powerless as the Chairman does not believe the Fed has the tools necessary to deal with that eventuality. The S&P 500 followed the early afternoon slide with another climb towards the unchanged level before ending with a gain of 0.1%.

The technology sector lost 0.6% and was the weakest performer of the day. Among tech bellwethers, Apple (AAPL 561.15, -4.58) shed 0.8% after yesterday's rally resulted in a 7.2% gain. Elsewhere, Intel (INTC 19.52, -0.73) fell 3.6%.

Looking at tech earnings, Hewlett-Packard slumped 12.0% after reporting mixed results. During the fourth quarter, the computer assembler earned $1.16, which was $0.01 ahead of the Capital IQ consensus estimate. However, the company's revenue missed expectations after declining 6.7% year-over-year, to $29.96 billion. In addition to the results, investors were drawn to another point of interest in the quarterly report. The report included an $8.8 billion charge related to serious accounting improprieties and misrepresentations by Autonomy Corporation before it came under Hewlett-Packard's control. Following the earnings release, ISI Group downgraded HPQ to ‘neutral' from ‘buy.'

Elsewhere, Agilent Technologies (A 36.28, -1.23) beat on earnings and reported in-line revenue. The stock settled lower by 3.3% after the company issued cautious guidance as it sees first quarter earnings and revenue below analyst expectations.

Also of note, SanDisk (SNDK 36.84, -0.46) slid 1.2% after reports suggested the company may face antitrust claims over some of its NAND drives.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average saw a marginal loss as airlines outperformed. Delta Air Lines (DAL 9.68, +0.13) and Alaska Air (ALK 41.82, +0.29) were the top performing carriers, seeing respective gains of 1.4% and 0.7%. The relative strength in airlines was a by-product of today's action in oil. The energy component settled lower by 2.4% after early headlines out of the Middle East indicated Israel and Hamas are nearing a cease-fire.

On the downside, four railroads within the transportation average underperformed. CSX (CSX 19.52, -0.16) lost 0.8% after Avondale downgraded the stock to ‘market perform' from ‘outperform.' Meanwhile, Norfolk Southern (NSC 56.91, -1.12) was the worst performing rail operator, down 1.9%.

Quick service restaurants were in focus after reporting their quarterly results. Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (KKD 9.31, +1.77) soared 23.5% after beating on earnings and revenue. During the third quarter, the company earned $0.12, which was $0.04 ahead of the Capital IQ consensus estimate. In addition, the revenue of $107.1 million also beat expectations. The earnings report also contained upbeat guidance as the company sees its full-year 2013 and 2014 earnings ahead of analyst expectations. As a result of the strong report, shares of Krispy Kreme were bid to levels not seen since September of last year.

Meanwhile, Bob Evans (BOBE 35.06, -1.28) lost 3.5% after missing on both the top and bottom lines. In the earnings release, the company also indicated it is exploring strategic alternatives for its Mimi's Cafe business segment.

Today's economic data spotlighted housing. October building permits were reported at 866,000. The reading was below the prior month's rate of 890,000, and fell short of the 870,000 expected by the Briefing.com consensus.

On the other hand, housing starts hit an annualized rate of 894,000 units. This number was well ahead of the 840,000 expected by the Briefing.com consensus, and it represented an increase from prior month's reading of 863,000.

Homebuilders and providers of building materials outperformed due to upbeat housing starts data. PulteGroup (PHM 16.75, +0.85) jumped 5.4% and Ryland Homes (RYL 34.28, +1.92) surged 5.9%. Among building material suppliers, Masco (MAS 16.31, +0.87) rose by 5.6% and NCI Building Systems (NCS 11.85, +0.64) rallied 5.7%.

Crude oil fell deeper into negative territory on reports that Hamas and Israel have agreed to a ceasefire. A stronger dollar index also put pressure on the energy component. Crude fell as low as $86.17 per barrel in afternoon pit action and settled with a 2.9% loss at $86.76 per barrel.

Precious metals were under pressure during today's pit trade as the stronger dollar index and better-than-expected housing data weighed on prices. Gold opened near the unchanged line and spent morning floor action chopping around just below that level. The yellow metal sold off further in afternoon action and brushed a session low of $1722.50 per ounce moments before settling with a 0.6% loss at $1723.70 per ounce. Silver fell off its session high of $33.19 per ounce and touched a session low of $32.86 per ounce. Like gold, it settled 0.6% lower at $32.96 per ounce.

In contrast, natural gas steadily climbed higher after coming off its session low of $3.74 per MMBtu. It closed with a 2.7% gain at $3.83 per MMBtu, just below its session high of $3.84 per MMBtu.

In tomorrow's economic data, the weekly MBA Mortgage Index will be announced at 7:00 ET. In addition, weekly initial and continuing claims will be reported at 8:30 ET. Lastly, the final November Michigan Sentiment and October leading indicators will be reported at 9:55 ET and 10:00 ET, respectively.DJ30 -7.45 NASDAQ +0.61 SP500 +0.93 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1159/1.53 bln/1282 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1682/644.5 mln/1347