YAHOO[BRIEFING.COM]: Participants bid stocks markedly higher amid strong trading volume Friday, but the effort wasn't enough to give the S&P 500 its seventh straight weekly gain. Instead, stocks finished the week 0.7% lower.

Stocks sported gains since the opening bell as participants showed less risk aversion and more willingness to move into early cyclical plays amid hopes that the economic downturn may be slowing. That notion favored materials stocks, which logged the session's strongest gains by finishing 4.4% higher.

According to the latest statistics, March durable goods orders and orders excluding transportation declined 0.8% and 0.6%, respectively. Neither was as bad as expected.

Meanwhile, new home sales for March came in at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 356,000, which was better than expected, but down 0.6% from an upwardly revised February reading.

While those headlines helped support the notion that economic conditions may not be as dreadful as some have feared, the real focus of the session was pinned to the details of the government's measures used for conducting a series of stress tests at 19 leading U.S. banks.

Though actual results from the tests won't be available until May 4, investors hoped to gain insight into the conclusions that government officials reached. The report acknowledged that most U.S. banking organizations currently have capital levels well in excess of the amounts required to be considered well capitalized. Meanwhile, Fed regulators generally assert that banks should be prepared for the worst.

Financial stocks briefly fell into negative territory following the announcement, but quickly recovered and helped lift the broader market to its session highs late in the afternoon. The advance faded into the close, though, as financials pared a 4.4% gain to close with a 2.5% gain.

American Express (AXP 25.30, +4.33) was the primary leader among financial stocks. Investors sent the stock 20% higher after the company reported better-than-expected earnings.

Meanwhile, Microsoft (MSFT 20.91, +1.99) garnered interest in large-cap tech by reporting earnings that matched expectations. That, combined with better-than-expected earnings from Amazon.com (AMZN 84.46, +3.85), helped the Nasdaq outperform its counterparts.

In other earnings news, Ford (F 5.24, +0.75) posted a loss that wasn't quite as severe as many had expected. Management continues to reassure investors it has no plans to request government funding, supporting its appearance as the strongest among its peers. To that point, privately held Chrysler is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Earnings will remain in focus when investors return from the weekend. More than 20 companies have confirmed that they will announce their latest quarterly results ahead of Monday's opening bell. However, there are no economic reports of consequence currently scheduled.DJ30 +119.23 NASDAQ +42.08 NQ100 +2.2% R2K +2.6% SP400 +2.7% SP500 +14.31 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1945/2.51 bln/762 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2332/1.73 bln/703

3:35 pm : June crude oil rose throughout the session. A weak dollar and interest in equities led the crude contracts to close at $51.54 per barrel, up 3.9%.

On the other hand, May natural gas contracts fell on the session. The contracts closed down 3.5% at $3.29 per contract, these are levels not seen in natural gas since September of 2002.

Precious metals were able to extend their recent momentum to the upside.

June gold contracts closed at $914.10 per ounce, up 0.8%. The contracts traded in positive territory for almost the entire session and closed very near session highs.

July silver futures contracts traded in positive territory for the entire session. The contracts finished at $12.95 per ounce, up 1.3%. Silver futures contracts are currently trading between the 50 and 200 day simple moving averages of $13.05 and $12.42, respectively.DJ30 +154.12 NASDAQ +47.77 SP500 +18.64 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1986/2.1 bln/702 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2433/1.2 bln/607