YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks finished at session highs in their best single-session percentage advance in three months as buyers returned from an extended weekend to offer stocks broad-based support.

Nearly 95% of the names in the S&P 500 booked gains this session, but the strongest moves were made by energy plays, which advanced a collective 2.7%. The move was helped by a 3.9% spike in crude oil prices, which settled pit trade at $77.01 per barrel.

Oil helped the CRB Commodity Index extend its gains from last week by another 2.6%, which marks the CRB's best single-session gain by percent since mid-November, to a two-week high, such that it now stands just below its 50-day moving average.

The bid for commodities was supported by weakness in the U.S. dollar, which retreated a sharp 0.9% against a basket of foreign currencies. The move marked the dollar's worst drop since late November and a weak follow through from the gains that posted last week, when the Dollar Index hit a multimonth high as global participants sought safety amid uncertainty surrounding Greece's fiscal health. Neither a specific plan nor a concrete development regarding the matter has been unveiled.

In corporate news, better-than-expected earnings from British banking giant Barclays (BCS 19.03, +2.35) helped win support for shares of lenders and diversified banks. In turn, all 24 members of the KBW Bank Index advanced and gave the KBW a 2.9% gain -- its best single-session percentage move in more than one month.

Shared strength among banking issues helped JPMorgan Chase (JPM 40.07, +1.12) overcome early weakness, which followed news that it will pay nearly $1.7 billion for the Asian and European operations of the RBS-Sempra commodities joint venture. The company later announced that its net credit losses for January spiked to 10.91% from 7.11% in December, but its shares still finished with a near 3% gain at their session high.

Though strength was broad based this session, Dow component Kraft (KFT 28.97, -0.12) was unable to find support. Though it posted a solid quarterly report, it was one of only two Dow components to log a loss this session.

Pfizer (PFE 17.72, -0.08) was the other Dow component to book a loss. It failed to attract support from fellow pharmaceutical giant Merck (MRK 37.66, +0.74), which offered investors in-line earnings results for its latest quarter. Though MRK booked a gain, it wasn't enough to help the health care sector keep up with the broader market. Health care, as a group, advanced 0.9%, which is about half of what the broader market gained. DJ30 +169.67 NASDAQ +30.66 NQ100 +1.3% R2K +1.7% SP400 +1.6% SP500 +19.36 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1923/2.03 bln/755 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2526/1.08 bln/511