YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Today's session started on a positive note after yesterday's comments from House Speaker Boehner were viewed as supportive. However, the Speaker held another press conference today at which he said no "substantive progress" has been made. The S&P 500 responded to Mr. Boehner's remarks by falling back to its flat line. The weakness did not last long, and the benchmark average was able to regain its losses to close higher by 0.4%.

The materials sector was one of the top performers, and producers of building materials outperformed. The space was supported by the October pending home sales data which pointed to a 5.2% increase, well ahead of the 1.0% expected by the Briefing.com consensus. Headwaters (HW 7.64, +0.19), Martin Marietta Materials (MLM 90.79, +3.99), and Vulcan Materials (VMC 51.31, +1.62) all gained between 2.6% and 4.6%.

Steelmakers saw broad strength, and the Market Vectors Steel ETF (SLX 44.34, +0.65) settled higher by 1.5%. Though most major steelmakers registered gains, Cliffs Natural Resources (CLF 28.89, -0.72) was a notable underperformer, down 2.4%.

Tech shares also outperformed, and the SPDR Technology Select Sector ETF (XLK 29.16, +0.14) gained 0.5%. The largest tech component, Apple (AAPL 589.36, +6.42), advanced 1.1% as it attempted to regain its 200-day moving average near $600.

Elsewhere, Intel (INTC 19.53, -0.56) slipped 2.8% after Goldman Sachs lowered its price target for the stock to $16 from $20. Meanwhile, peer Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 2.04, +0.08) settled higher by 4.1% as the company sought to sell its campus in Austin, Texas.

Also of note, Research In Motion (RIMM 11.54, +0.44) spiked 4.0% after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to ‘buy' from ‘neutral.' The maker of Blackberry phones has been on a strong run recently, gaining nearly 60% since the start of November.

As the end of the month nears, retailers have begun to report their November same store sales. Out of the 16 companies which have already reported, only four have beaten their estimates. Of those four, Stein Mart (SMRT 8.56, +0.97) led the way with a 12.8% gain. Today's advance occurred after the company reported a 7.1% growth in same store sales on expectations of a 2.3% increase.

On the downside, Kohl's (KSS 45.02, -6.13) sank 12.0% after its same store sales declined by 5.6% on expectations of a 2.1% increase. Like many retailers which missed their estimates, Kohl's blamed the softness on the aftereffects of Superstorm Sandy. As a result of the disappointing data, the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 63.36, -0.46) shed 0.7%.

Overnight, India's Sensex gained 1.8% after Goldman Sachs upgraded Indian stocks. As a result, the iPath MSCI India Index ETN (INP 58.37, +1.90) was the best performing regional ETN, up 3.4%. Indian stocks listed in the U.S. reflected the strength as they registered broad gains. Among financials, HDFC Bank (HDB 42.85, +2.58) and ICICI Bank (IBN 41.54, +2.76) jumped 6.4% and 7.1%, respectively. Elsewhere, automaker Tata Motors (TTM 25.60, +1.39) surged 5.7% and business technology consultant Infosys (INFY 44.66, +1.22) settled higher by 2.8%.

The Dow Jones Transportation Average added 0.6% as companies specializing in package delivery led the bellwether complex. Expeditors International of Washington (EXPD 37.35, +0.60), FedEx (FDX 90.80, +1.31), and UPS (UPS 73.56, +0.85) all gained between 1.2% and 1.6%. Earlier, Stifel Nicolaus upgraded Expeditors International to ‘buy' from ‘hold.' In addition, morning reports indicated UPS may pursue a network sharing agreement with its rivals in order to save the TNT Express deal.

The latest weekly initial jobless claims count totaled 393,000, which was lower than the 395,000 that had been expected by the Briefing.com consensus. The tally was below the revised prior week count of 416,000. As for continuing claims, they fell to 3.287 million from 3.357 million.

The second estimate of third quarter GDP pointed to growth of 2.7%, up from the 2.0% observed in the preliminary reading. The upwardly revised increase is slightly lower than the 2.8% increase that economists polled by Briefing.com had expected. Also, the third quarter GDP Deflator was revised down, to 2.7%.

Jan crude oil rose $1.58 to $88.04/barrel, Jan natural gas fell $0.15 cents to $3.65/MMBtu, Jan heating oil rose 4 cents to $3.06/gallon, and Jan RBOB gasoline rose 4 cents to $2.73/gallon.

Crude oil trended higher for the first time this week, gaining support from a weaker dollar index. The energy component climbed as high as $88.69 per barrel in morning pit action but gave up some of the gain following House Speaker Boehner's comments regarding the fiscal cliff and that no "substantive progress" has been made. Nevertheless, crude booked a 1.8% gain for the session as it closed at $88.04 per barrel.

Precious metals also climbed higher in choppy fashion. Both gold and silver dipped to their respective pit session lows of $1722.80 per ounce and $33.84 per ounce following the release of initial claims data and the second estimate of third quarter GDP but quickly regained momentum. Gold brushed a session high of $1731.20 per ounce and settled for a 0.6% gain at $1729.30 per ounce. Silver popped to a session high of $34.49 per ounce in morning action and eventually closed with a1.9% gain at $34.42 per ounce.

Natural gas, on the other hand, trended lower into negative territory. It tanked to a floor session low of $3.64 per MMBtu following weaker-than-anticipated inventory data. Natural gas was unable to erase much of the loss and settled at $3.65 per MMBtu, or 3.9% lower

In Friday's economic data, October personal income and personal spending as well as core PCE prices will all be released at 8:30 ET. Lastly, November Chicago PMI will be reported at 9:45 ET.DJ30 +36.71 NASDAQ +20.25 SP500 +6.02 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1790/1.7 bln/676 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2173/682.5 mln/846