YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks will close mixed with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq holding respective gains of 0.3% and 0.2% while the Dow closed lower by 0.1%. Today's action saw the Nasdaq hit its best level in three years, and the S&P 500 cross 1250 for the first time since September 22, 2008.

Energy was the best performing sector all day, with the S&P 500 Energy Index closing higher by 0.7%. Chesapeake Energy (CHK 25.35, +2.05), Valero Energy (VLO 22.18, +1.10), and Tesoro (TSO 18.37, 0.93) were among the best performers in the space.

Homebuilders were also strong today, ahead of this week's release of November Existing Home Sales, and New Home Sales, which are scheduled to be released on Wednesday and Thursday. Lennar (LEN 18.26, +0.94), DR Horton (DHI 11.80, +0.41), and PulteGroup (PHM 7.26, +0.20) all finished the day with gains.

Shares of AT&T (T 29.14, -0.07) finished the day well off their best levels of the session after the company announced it would purchase Qualcomm's (QCOM 49.49, +0.03) Lower 700 MHz D and E Block unpaired U.S. spectrum licenses. The purchase is expected to improve AT&T's cellular network.

Sara Lee (SLE 17.69, +0.43) was down more than 4% in-premarket trading after reports indicated the company's sale of itself to Brazilian meat company JBS SA was on hold after the two sides failed to agree on a price. The stock shook off the news and closed higher by 2.4%.

Following the Fed's first Permanent Open Market Operations of the day, the 10-yr yield moved off its session low of 3.247%, climbing back to the flat line at 3.33% ahead of the Fed's second Permanent Open Market Operations of the day. After the results of the second POMO of the day were announced sellers reentered the market, pushing the 10-yr yield up to 3.36%. The 2-10-yr spread will end the day steeper near 274.

The dollar ran to its session high just following the open of U.S. equities and remained range between 80.55 and 80.70 for most of the session. Dollar strength pushed the euro lower by 70 pips to 1.3120, and the pound down 20 pips to 1.5510. Dollar/yen failed near 84.00 and will end today's trade near 83.75.

Commodities finished higher across the board today, led by a 1.9% gain in energy and a 1.4% rally in industrials. The rally in cotton continued today after it gained 2.7% and is closing in on its all time high $1.5723 per pound.

Jan natural gas rallied for 3.4% to close at $4.24 per MMBtu, just shy of its highs at $4.25. Forecasts for below average temps once again boosted prices. Feb crude oil gained 0.8% to end at $89.37 per barrel. It rallied off of its session lows, at $87.73, throughout the session to close just shy of its session highs at $89.57.

Feb gold finished higher by +0.5% to $1385.30, while March silver gained +0.9% to close at $29.36 per ounce. Both metals bounced off of their respective lows to recoup losses and close in positive territory.

Volume was light, and is expected to remain that way for much of the next two weeks as traders vacation over the holidays. Just less than 830 million shares traded hands on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. DJ30 -13.78 NASDAQ +6.59 SP500 +3.17 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1273/1.71 bln/1383 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1482/829.1 mln/1534