YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks surrendered early gains as enthusiasm for a better-than-expected nonfarm jobs report faded. For the rest of the session stocks generally traded sideways before closing in mixed fashion.

Participants bid stocks higher in the first few minutes of trading after receiving word that payrolls fell by 345,000 during May. Given that the number of job losses were below the 520,000 that were expected and that they declined from the 504,000 that were registered in April, many participants warmed to the notion that macro conditions may be improving, or at least resisting further deterioration.

That consideration aside, unemployment has reached a near 26-year high of 9.4%, up from 8.9%.

The initial lift among stocks took the S&P 500 to fresh 2009 highs, but listless trading left stocks susceptible to an early selling effort, which left stocks to trade in a relatively narrow range for the rest of the session.

Industrial stocks (+0.8%) were able to trade with solid gains for the entire session, helping the blue chip Dow Jones Industrial Average keep a marginal lead over the other major indices during the session. General Electric (GE 13.54, -0.21) lagged, though.

Semiconductor stocks (-1.9%) also showed weakness after the Semiconductor Association forecast a 21% year-over-year decline in 2009 worldwide sales. That caused Intel (INTC 15.92, -0.21) to trade lower and weigh on the Nasdaq Composite.

Meanwhile, the S&P 500 finished lower amid broader weakness as its declining issues outnumbered its advancers by nearly 2-to-1.

Financials (-1.5%) and materials stocks (-1.1%) were among the weaker performers in the S&P 500. Weakness in the materials sector mostly stemmed from a drop in commodity prices, which saw the CRB Commodity Index slide roughly 0.7%.

The downturn in commodities was especially noticeable in gold prices, which shed 2.0% to settle at $962.50 per ounce.

General weakness among commodities came as the Dollar Index jumped 1.7% in its best single session advance by percent since January.

Traders continued their selling efforts against Treasuries. That took the benchmark 10-year Note roughly one full point lower, which has pushed its yield to six-months highs above 3.8%.DJ30 +12.89 NASDAQ -0.60 NQ100 +0.0% R2K -0.3% SP400 -0.1% SP500 -2.37 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1217/2.31 bln/1448 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1460/1.26 bln/1539