YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: There weren't many truly positive catalysts this session, but participants showed support for stocks as they stepped in to buy the many names that were sent lower in the previous session. Their efforts drove stocks to a fresh 52-week closing high.

Stocks started the session in mixed fashion, but a steady stream of buyers helped stocks fully recover from their 1.1% loss this past Friday. Though technical resistance at 52-week intraday highs contained the move, the advance remained broad based and strong into the close.

The buying effort showed that participants remain willing to keep the stock market's pullbacks short and shallow as they try to take a position for future gains. Earnings represent a primary caveat to future gains, though.

Citigroup (C 3.54, +0.12) was the latest financial giant to post its latest quarterly results. The company booked a loss of $0.33 per share, but that was in-line with Wall Street's expectations. Shares of C were initially pressured by the report, but they were able to snap back and book a gain. The broader financial sector settled with a 1.1% gain.

Health care fared the best this session. It advanced 2.0% amid speculation that a Republican election to the vacant Massachusetts Senate seat could stall or stymie health care reform.

Tech was another strong source of support for the stock market. The sector climbed 1.6% as IBM (IBM 134.14, +2.36) hit a fresh 52-week high ahead of its quarterly announcement. IBM was one of more than 50 companies in the S&P 500 to book a fresh 52-week high and one of seven Dow components to hit a new yearly high.

Kraft (KFT 29.41, -0.17) was one of just a handful of Dow components to finish lower. It was weighed down by news that Cadbury (CBY 54.83, +2.93) has consented to a takeover by the food giant. Kraft will have to pay $19.44 billion in cash and stock for the confectioner, though.

Though smaller, an acquisition was announced by Tyco International (TYC 38.19, +0.65), which will pay $2.0 billion for Brink's Home Security Holdings (CFL 41.54, +10.12). Tyco went on to forecast fiscal first quarter adjusted earnings from $0.63 to $0.65 per share, which exceeds the current consensus of $0.50 per share and the range of $0.48 to $0.50 per share that the company had previously forecast. The company maintained its in-line guidance for fiscal 2010, though.

Roughly 90% of the stocks in the S&P 500 booked gains this session. Though that helped the broader market put together one of its better sessions since the start of the year, more impressive is that the advance came in the face of a firmer dollar -- the greenback actually gained a healthy 0.5% against a basket of foreign currencies.

Advancing Sectors: Health Care (+2.0%), Tech (+1.6%), Materials (+1.6%), Telecom (+1.5%), Utilities (+1.2%), Consumer Discretionary (+1.2%), Financial (+1.1%), Industrials (+0.9%), Energy (+0.9%), Consumer Staples (+0.6%)
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +115.78 NASDAQ +32.41 NQ100 +1.7% R2K +1.8% SP400 +1.3% SP500 +14.20 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1893/2.06 bln/825 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2389/1.04 bln/686