YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: In a moderately bullish sign, broad-based buying brought back stocks from sizable losses that were logged in the previous session. The move put the stock market back near its 52-week high.

Despite this session's strong finish, stocks actually stumbled in the early going. Large-cap tech was particularly weak amid continued profit taking, which was supported by news that Google (GOOG 587.09, -3.39) may pull out of China. The headline prompted participants to drop shares of GOOG below their 50-day moving average for the first time since July. Though the stock pared its losses and settled at the key technical line, it still failed to share in the broader tech sector's 1.0% gain.

Renewed support for financial stocks drove the sector from a 0.6% loss to a 1.2% gain this session. The move was primarily underpinned by banks, which booked a 1.8% gain. Shares of banks showed no reaction to the testimonies of financial executives about the financial crisis at Capitol Hill today.

Financials were a primary leader for most of the session, but health care stocks logged the best gain. They advanced 1.3%.

Telecom was the only sector that failed to find positive ground. It shed 0.4% amid weakness in integrated telecom stocks, which fell 0.7%. The telecom sector, which boasts a dividend yield in excess of 5.5% at current stock prices, failed to find support amid chatter that current tax rates, including the dividend tax, may be extended.

Energy stocks had traded with weakness as oil prices extended their sell-off from the previous session amid a larger-than-expected weekly inventory build. Energy stocks recovered to finish with a 0.4% gain, but oil prices stayed lower to close below $80 per barrel for the first time this year.

Support for stocks led to selling among Treasuries. Treasuries extended their losses after a $21 billion auction of 10-year Notes drew a yield of 3.75% and a bid-to-cover of 3.0, which is well above the 2009 average of 2.6. The benchmark 10-year Note fell 19 ticks, which pushed its yield back up toward 3.8%.

The Treasury's budget for December showed a deficit of $91.9 billion, which is in-line with the $92.0 billion that had been expected, on average, by economists. The deficit for November was $51.8 billion.

The Fed's latest Beige Book stated that economic activity is still low, but improving. It also stated that credit quality is still worsening, though.

Stocks may have fully recovered from profit-taking in the previous session, but the lack of trading volume suggests that there wasn't much conviction behind this session's move. Fewer than 1 billion shares traded hands on the NYSE; recent averages stand closer to 1.1 billion shares.

Advancing Sectors: Health Care (+1.3%), Financials (+1.2%), Tech (+1.0%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.9%), Utilities (+0.9%), Materials (+0.9%), Consumer Staples (+0.7%), Industrials (+0.5%), Energy (+0.4%)
Declining Sectors: Telecom (-0.4%)DJ30 +53.51 NASDAQ +25.59 NQ100 +1.3% R2K +1.3% SP400 +1.3% SP500 +9.46 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1832/2.37 bln/871 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2246/970 mln/800