YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Late pressure left stocks to finish the session on a rather weak note, but the major indices were still able to settle in positive territory.

Gains were varied for the entire session as choppy trade made it difficult for stocks to put together any sort of sustainable relief rally in the wake of the stock market's three consecutive slides. Disappointing December existing home sales numbers didn't help either.

Existing home sales for December fell 16.7% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 5.45 million units, which is a slower pace than the annualized rate of 5.90 million units that had been expected.

The announcement caused a bit of a broad-based slip, but homebuilders saw the worst of it as their near 2% gain turned into a loss. The group recovered to finish with a 0.4% gain, though.

Materials stocks had been strong performers for most of the session. They were helped along by AK Steel (AKS 21.27, +1.08), which posted better-than-expected earnings for its latest quarter. However, the lack of market weight in the materials sector made it difficult to lead a broader recovery.

Telecom, which also lacks weight in the broader market, finished with the best gains of any major sector. AT&T (T 25.58, +0.19) and Verizon (VZ 30.68, +0.34) helped the sector put together a 1.1% gain. The two integrated telecom giants are due to report their latest quarterly results later this week.

Though their loss was fractional, health care was the only major sector to finish in the red. Managed care providers (-0.5%) proved to be a drag on the sector.

Volatility made a considerable pullback after it had surged in the previous week. Specifically, the Volatility Index, or VIX, fell 7.0% this session.

Trading volume was moderate as hardly 1 billion shares exchanged hands on the NYSE this session. Given the scope of last week's losses, many participants are waiting to see what stocks will do amid a larger batch of earnings releases and economic data.

Advancing Sectors: Telecom (+1.1%), Materials (+0.8%), Tech (+0.7%), Utilities (+0.6%), Energy (+0.6%), Financials (+0.5%), Industrials (+0.5%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.3%), Consumer Staples (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: (None)
Unchanged: Health CareDJ30 +23.88 NASDAQ +5.51 NQ100 +0.4% R2K +0.2% SP400 +0.2% SP500 +5.02 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1312/2.14 bln/1379 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1755/1.05 bln/1289