YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The Dow closed on its highs for the year, and finished higher for its eighth consecutive week, closing on its 200-week moving average. U.S. equities initially took their cue from Europe as investors responded positively to Greece seeking aid from the IMF and European Union.

News that Greece requested $55 billion from the EU and IMF helped improve the mood of investors following last night's after-hours session, when it had appeared several companies would be weaker this morning. Traders sold the news of better-than expected earnings from market heavyweights Microsoft (MSFT 30.96, -0.43) and Amazon (AMZN 143.63, -6.46), investors gained confidence as the selling stayed contained, and stocks started rallying around midday to close at both session highs and 19-month highs.

Energy shares were the best performers, gaining 2.3%. Schlumberger (SLB 72.68, +4.50) led the sector showing gains of almost 7%. Higher oil prices helped as crude closed near $85.10 in electronic trading.

Meanwhile, telecom shares continued to lag the broader market and closed down 0.2%. A downgrade of Verizon (VZ 29.05, -0.23) put pressure on shares in the telecom space.

Volume on the NYSE closed above its 200-day average for the third straight session.

Economic data released today had little sustainable impact on the direction of the market in early trading. A surprise spike in new home sales for March of 26.9% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 411,000 units led to a short rally in stocks, but they later pulled back.

Commodities had a relatively solid session as the CRB Commodity Index put together a 0.7% gain, which made for its fourth straight advance and left it 1.0% higher for the week.

Natural gas booked some of the best gains this session as its price climbed 3.1% to $4.26 per MMBtu. Oil prices were also strong as crude prices climbed 1.7% to $85.12 per barrel, a closing high for the week.

As for precious metals, gold prices gained 0.9% to settle pit trade at $1153.30 per ounce. Silver prices advanced 1.1% to $18.20 per ounce.

Durable goods orders for March also had little influence on the market's initial direction. Total orders fell 1.3%, which is a negative surprise since the consensus had called for a 0.2% increase. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders for March spiked 2.8%, which was considerably stronger than the 0.7% increase that had been widely forecast. Orders less transportation for February were revised higher to reflect a 1.7% increase.

Advancing Sectors: Energy (+2.3%), Materials (+1.3%), Health Care (+1.1%), Utilities (+0.8%), Industrials (+0.7%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.5%), Tech (+0.5%), Financials (+0.4%)
Declining Sectors: Telecom (-0.2%), Consumer Staples (-0.1%) DJ30 +69.99 NASDAQ +11.08 NQ100 +0.5% R2K +1.0% SP400 +1.0% SP500 +8.61 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1702/2.43 bln/991 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2161/1.21 bln/869