YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Despite a lower start, the stock market was able to finish a choppy trading session with modest gains, thanks largely to a rebound in energy stocks. Still, trading volume was low, suggesting that many investors were sitting on the sidelines.

Less than 1.3 billion shares traded hands on the NYSE this session, but the lack of participation didn't stop stocks from concluding the week on a positive note. In turn, stocks logged a weekly gain of 1.3%.

Energy stocks snapped back from a 2.1% loss in the prior session to log a 3.0% gain Friday. The energy sector's rebound was helped along by higher energy prices; natural gas prices spiked 5.1% to close at $3.55 per contract, while crude oil futures finished pit trading with oil priced 3.4% higher at $52.84 per barrel.

Still, lower oil prices than those seen last year are weighing on profits at many oil companies. Such has been the case for Chevron (CVX 66.87, +0.77), which reported this morning that its first quarter earnings per share were more than halved since last year. Shares of CVX were able to finish higher, though.

Strength among energy stocks provided support to the broader market while the other major sectors traded in mixed fashion.

Financial stocks attempted to make an early move from negative territory into the green, but sputtered and finished the session with a 1.7% loss, worse than any other sector. The sector's decline came amid weakness in life and health insurers (-3.2%) following some ugly quarterly results from MetLife (MET 27.45, -2.30).

MasterCard (MA 172.90, -10.55) also fell under pressure for posting some disappointing quarterly metrics, even though the company was still able to top analysts' consensus earnings estimate for the latest quarter.

Banks came under pressure as investors became a bit skittish after hearing that results from the government's bank stress tests won't be released until May 7, which is later than the May 4 release that was originally planned. The delay comes after executives at several banks began to debate the test results, which suggests the government's findings weren't entirely positive. According to The Wall Street Journal, regulators are expected to disclose potential loss estimates for individual banks and tally certain results across all tested banks.

Early cycle stocks were able to log respectable gains as the industrial sector climbed 1.1% and the materials sector advanced 0.3%. Their gains have compounded in recent sessions as many investors attempt to chase stocks they expect to benefit first from an economic revival.

However, economic conditions remain dour. Factory orders for March declined 0.9%, which is worse than the 0.6% decline that was widely expected, and February orders were revised lower to reflect an increase of 0.7%.

Meanwhile, the ISM Manufacturing Index for April showed continued contraction. It came in at 40.1. However, that was better than the 38.4 that was expected, and was also up from 36.3 in March.

With economic conditions continuing to challenge businesses and consumers, Ford (F 5.69, -0.29) announced April auto sales fell 31.6%, while General Motors (GM 1.81, -0.11) said its US sales fell 34% in April.

As part of an effort to loosen credit flow and stimulate economic conditions, the Federal Reserve announced that, starting in June, commercial mortgage backed securities and securities backed by insurance premium finance loans will be eligible collateral under the TALF plan. DJ30 +44.29 NASDAQ +1.90 NQ100 +0.2% R2K -0.1% SP400 -0.4% SP500 +4.71 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1365/2.15 bln/1327 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1911/1.29 bln/1113