YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The S&P 500 settled lower for only the fourth time this month as a late recovery effort stalled at the neutral line.

Stocks spent the entire session confined to a relatively narrow range. The listless, lackluster action ended with only energy (+0.1%) and telecom (+0.1%) in higher ground, but losses in the other sectors were slight.

Participants, who were limited in number, were generally unmotivated today. As such, no real responses were made to the latest dose of data, which featured some positive surprises.

Initial jobless claims for the week ended December 25 totaled 388,000, which is the lowest sum in more than two years. Economists polled by Briefing.com had expected, on average, that initial claims would come in at 416,000.

The Chicago PMI for December was posted shortly after the open. It improved to a 22-year high of 68.6.

Pending home sales for November increased 3.5% month over month. That compares favorably with the Briefing.com consensus call for a 3.0% decline.

The dollar spent the day in the red and finished with a 0.3% loss against a basket of competing currencies as it extended its slide from the prior session. That didn't really do anything to drive buying, however. The breakdown in the dollar-stock market dynamic in recent days is mostly owed to increased apathy as investors take extended vacations around year-end holidays, or opt to take their gains and losses.

Amid the lack of participation, barely a half billion shares were traded today on the NYSE. The 50-day average stands closer to 1 billion.

Crude oil prices tumbled 1.5% to $89.73 per barrel for their first close below the $90 mark in a week. Prices were under pressure for virtually the entire session; news of a smaller-than-expected draw of 1.26 million barrels for inventories in the week ended December 24 didn't help. Crude oil prices are still up 13.0% year-to-date, though.

Natural gas inventories for the week ended December 24 were smaller than expected with a draw of 136 bcf. The commodity saw its gain dashed, but it was able to rally to $4.35 per MMBtu for a 1.4% gain. Natural gas prices are down 21.8% for the year.

Gold prices slipped 0.6% to settle the day at $1405.60 per ounce. The yellow metal is still up 28.1% for the year.

As for silver, the precious metals is up a stellar 81.0% for the year, though it ended today's trade with a 0.7% loss at $30.50 per ounce. That loss came after silver prices in the continuous contract set a new record of $30.90 per ounce in early morning trade.

Advancing Sectors: Telecom (+0.1%), Energy (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Financials (-0.4%), Health Care (-0.3%), Industrials (-0.2%), Tech (-0.2%), Utilities (-0.2%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.1%), Consumer Staples (-0.1%)
Unchanged: MaterialsDJ30 -15.67 NASDAQ -3.95 NQ100 -0.3% R2K -0.1% SP400 +0.1% SP500 -1.90 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1217/1.09 bln/1394 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1492/507 mln/1447