YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks booked broad gains, but the effort failed to take the major equity averages above the multi-year intraday highs they set yesterday morning.

A reversal yesterday left stocks to suffer varied losses, but participants were back with a bid this morning. The positive ahead of the open persisted amid some tepid data, which showed that initial jobless claims for the week ended February 25 totaled 351,000. That was little changed from the prior week's tally of 353,000 (revised upward from 351,000) and on par with the 355,000 claims count that had been broadly expected.

Monthly personal spending and income numbers proved disappointing. In January spending increased by 0.2%, which is only half of what had been widely expected. Income increased by 0.3%, which is less than the 0.4% increase that had been generally forecasted.

Stocks reacted negatively to news that the ISM Manufacturing Index fell to 52.4 in February from 54.1 in the prior month, contrasting with calls for an improvement to 54.7. The inclination to sell was compounded by news that construction spending during January declined by 0.1%, which clashed with the Briefing.com consensus call for a 1.0% increase.

Fed Chairman Bernanke's semiannual monetary policy report to the Senate Banking Committee was a non-event, given that it reflected the remarks he made yesterday to the House Financial Services Committee.

Despite the early setback, the broad market was able to find support narrowly above its opening level and rebounded from there. The bounce higher was led by financials, which finished with a 1.2% gain as they fought to reclaim the gains that they had forfeited in the prior session, but the move lost momentum once stocks approached the intraday highs set early in the previous session. Although that invoked some afternoon selling, stocks were able to finish on a positive note.

Amid the action the SPDR S&P Retail ETF (XRT 59.53, +0.64) notched a new record high with help from a raft of stronger-than-expected same-store sales results. Wal-Mart (WMT 58.82, -0.26) actually logged a loss after announcing an increase to its dividend.

The CRB Index put together a 0.6% gain today. It was helped higher by oil, which closed pit trade with a 1.6% gain at $108.77 per barrel, but has continued its climb in electronic trade so that it trades near $109.50 per barrel. Meanwhile, natural gas prices tumbled 5.4% to $2.47 per MMBtu.

Precious metals put together gains after falling sharply in the prior session. Gold prices settled 1.6% higher at $108.77 per ounce. Silver settled at $35.59 per ounce for a 2.9% gain.

Advancing Sectors: Financials +1.2%, Materials +1.1%, Energy +0.9%, Tech +0.7%, Consumer Discretionary +0.7%, Health Care +0.5%, Industrials +0.3%, Telecom +0.3%, Utilities +0.2%
Declining Sectors: Consumer Staples -0.2%DJ30 +28.23 NASDAQ +22.08 NQ100 +0.8% R2K +0.5% SP400 +0.8% SP500 +8.41 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1431/1.89 bln/1102 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2017/814 mln/982