YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks overcame sizable losses in the early going to work their way into positive territory, but from there broad market trade was restricted to a tight range narrowly above the neutral line. And although the Dow danced along the 13,000 for most of the afternoon it failed again to close above the psychologically significant line.

Weakness in Europe tainted early sentiment as market participants reflected on news that G-20 officials want eurozone officials to establish additional financial safeguards before more funds are made available to the International Monetary Fund for commitment to the continent. That left the cash market to open lower, but early selling quickly abated and gave way to a steady rebound.

The stock market's push higher was initially broad based, but financials soon emerged as a source of leadership. The sector was down about 1% within the first 30 minutes of action, but settled with a 0.9% gain near its session high with notable strength among bank stocks. Strikingly, there wasn't another sector that came close to matching its performance.

The improved tone of trade helped the Dow climb more than 100 points from its morning low to its afternoon high comfortably above the 13,000 line, but the lack of follow through in the broader market left the Dow to give up its position above that line for the third time in five sessions.

Energy stocks had the distinction of booking the worst performance of any sector because of their 0.3% loss. Oil and gas equipment and services stocks were clipped as crude oil prices fell 1.2% to $108.48 per barrel in pit trade, but offshore driller Transocean (RIG 53.43, +2.70) reached a three-month high in response to its latest quarterly report.

Meanwhile, home improvement retailer Lowe's (LOW 27.34, +0.18) was also out with its latest quarterly numbers, which featured an upside earnings surprise. The stock rallied early, but gains were gradually surrendered throughout the session.

Data was limited to a pending home sales report for January. It showed that pending home sales increased by 2.0%, which is double the 1.0% increase that had been broadly expected. Homebuilders shares responded positively to the news, such that the SPDR S&P Homebuilders ETF (XHB 19.97, +0.32) jumped, but could not close above the $20 line.

The dollar advanced, but not without a fight. It had been helped higher in the early going before seeing most of its gain dissipate about midway through the day. The dollar battled back so that by session's end it was up 0.3% against a basket of major foreign currencies.

Treasuries also traded higher today. In fact, the benchmark 10-year Note gained almost a half of a point, a solid, but somewhat curious gain since the tone of trade in the stock market was arguably more positive than negative -- given that the broad market eked out a narrow gain and that advancing volume edged out declining volume on the NYSE.

Sellers applied pressure to oil prices after the energy component climbed aggressively in trade last week -- futures prices closed pit trade today at $108.48 per barrel for a 1.2% loss.

Natural gas prices were also clipped. The energy component climbed in early pit trade, but the move proved unsustainable. As a result, futures prices settled at $2.60 per MMBtu, which makes for a 3.3% loss.

Gold prices closed with a loss of less than $2 at $1774.70 per ounce. However, silver scored a 0.6% gain by settling at $35.49 per ounce.

Advancing Sectors: Financials 0.9%, Consumer Discretionary +0.3%, Health Care +0.1%, Telecom +0.1%, Materials +0.1%, Tech +0.1%
Unchanged: Consumer Staples
Declining Sectors: Utilities -0.2%, Industrials -0.1%, Energy -0.3% Dow unch., S&P 500 +0.1%, Nasdaq +0.1%, Nasdaq 100 +0.1%, S&P 400 unch., Russell 2000 unch. DJ30 -1.44 NASDAQ +2.41 NQ100 +0.1% R2K +0.0% SP400 +0.0% SP500 +1.85 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1142/1.74 bln/1368 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1497/732 mln/1487