YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: A loss of excitement for Ireland's financial aid request left the stock market to drop more than 1%, but technical support provided a base for a rebound that helped the broader market slash its loss and the Nasdaq Composite stage a nice gain.

Officials from Ireland announced during the weekend a request for financial aid from the European Union as part of an effort to sturdy its tenuous financial state. Nothing official has been put forth, but most estimates point toward a plan that will feature something on the order of 100 billion euros.

Global participants initially reacted to the announcement by boosting the euro and giving European bourses a strong start to the week, but attention was quickly diverted to the persisting problems of Portugal and Spain. That left Europe's equities to roll over and the euro to drop against the dollar.

At its overnight low the dollar was down 0.7%, but it swung to a gain of about 0.4% at its session high. It gave up part of that gain so that at the close of trade it was only up 0.2% against a basket of competing currencies. The dollar's rebound from its overnight low and the recognition that ineffective fiscal practices continue to trouble countries in the EU periphery caused stocks to come under a broad wave of selling. The effort took both the Dow and the S&P 500 down more than 1%.

Just as was the case in Europe, financials were the weakest performers and undermined broader market action. At its low the financial sector was down more than 2%, but it finished with a 1.4% loss. Goldman Sachs (GS 161.05, -5.62) was one of the hardest hit, no thanks to news of trading probes at a couple of hedge funds.

The financial sector was helped by a broader market rebound that began after support for the S&P 500 held in the 1184 to 1186 area.

Tech, the largest sector in the S&P 500 by market weight, provided a helping hand in the move. The sector showed leadership as it worked its way to a 0.6% gain. Most of that move was owed to strength in semiconductor stocks like SanDisk (SNDK 42.57, +2.59), which set a three-month high after an analyst upgrade, and Broadcom (BRCM 44.17, +0.95), which hit a four-year high after it announced a definitive agreement to acquire Gigle Networks for approximately $75 million.

The afternoon climb helped volatility cool, such that the Volatility Index was up just 3% at the close after it was up more than 10% during the day.

Trading volume was lackluster on the NYSE. Though some key economic releases in coming days will likely attract some participation, overall share volume in coming days will likely lack due to the holiday shortened week -- U.S. markets will be closed Thursday in observance of Thanksgiving and Friday will be a half day.

Treasuries saw some seesaw action as well today. The benchmark 10-year Note ran into some pressure after results from an auction of 2-year Notes showed a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.70, dollar demand of $129.5 billion, and an indirect bidder participation rate of 38.3%. For comparison, the average for the past three auctions holds a bid-to-cover ratio of 3.44, dollar demand of $123.9 billion, and indirect bidder participation of 36.1%.

It was a mixed session for commodities, as energy (+0.2%), grains (+0.2%) and precious metals (+1.3%) all ended higher and soft commodities (-0.1%), livestock (-0.2%) and industrials (-0.9%) all finished lower.

Dec gold futures closed higher by 0.7% to $1357.80 per ounce, while Dec silver rallied for 1.9% to end at $27.46 per ounce. Both metals bounced off of their session lows, set in mid-morning trade, to recoup some gains from overnight trade.

Dec natural gas ended higher by +2.6% to $4.28 per MMBtu. Forecasts for colder-than- average temps pushed natural gas prices to their best levels since mid-Aug. Dec crude oil finished lower by 0.3% to $81.74 per barrel.

Advancing Sectors: Tech (+0.6%), Consumer Discretionary (0.3%), Utilities (+0.2%), Materials (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Financials (-1.4%), Energy (-0.4%), Telecom (-0.3%), Industrials (-0.3%), Consumer Staples (-0.1%)
Unchanged: Health CareDJ30 -24.82 NASDAQ +13.90 NQ100 +0.7% R2K +0.4% SP400 +0.7% SP500 -1.88 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1336/1.85 bln/1303 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1520/917 mln/1453