YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Trade was mostly choppy Tuesday, but the session finished on a strong note as the Dow and S&P 500 climbed in the final hour to close near their highs of the day.

The euro proved to be the primary catalyst for stocks. As has been the case in recent sessions its gains gave a lift to the major equity averages and its pullbacks prompted sellers to apply pressure. The euro had traded with weakness overnight amid calls from Fitch that the United Kingdom's fiscal challenge is formidable and that a strong, medium term consolidation strategy is warranted. However, the euro was able to rebound and net a gain of roughly 0.3% at $1.196 after oscillating for most of the session.

A lack of clear direction among stocks in the early going saw the Dow drop below its May low so that it set its worst level since November. Exxon Mobil (XOM 61.24, +1.94) helped lead the blue chip index to a gain of more than 100 points after it had been down more than 50 points at its session low. Strength in shares of XOM also gave the broader energy sector a 1.9% gain even after analysts at Goldman Sachs downgraded deepwater drillers like Diamond Offshore Drilling (DO 56.94, -2.27) and Transocean (RIG 46.33, -2.84), both of which fell to fresh 52-week lows.

While all 10 major sectors in the S&P 500 advanced, materials stocks had some of the best gains. The sector spiked 2.5% as gold stocks attracted additional support after gold bullion prices propelled to a new record high of $1252.10 per ounce. Gold prices settled pit trade with a 0.4% gain at $1246.50 per ounce.

Tech stocks lagged for the entire session, but they managed to rally to a fractional gain in the final minutes of trade. Still, that wasn't enough to lift the tech-rich Nasdaq to higher ground. Instead, the Nasdaq logged another loss as it trailed its counterparts for the second straight session.

Lingering weakness in the Nasdaq has caused it to shed almost 6% since the selloff that followed an underwhelming jobs report this past Friday. Meanwhile, gains this session for the Dow and S&P 500 have left them down little more than 3% and almost 4%, respectively, since that report.

Amid concerns about the implications of a stubbornly weak job market, Fed Chairman Bernanke stated in a speech last night that unemployment is expected to remain high, but that economic conditions continue improve at a moderate pace. Bernanke's comments were consistent with what has been communicated via the minutes of recent FOMC meeting and offered some reassurance to those wary of a double-dip recession.

Soft commodities, led by a 2.8% gain in sugar futures, helped the CRB Commodities Index (+0.4%) higher today. Orange juice and Cocoa futures both contributed gains of 1.3% to the move in soft commodities. Otherwise, it was a relatively quiet session for energy (-0.7%) and precious metals (+0.2%) futures.

July crude oil futures closed higher by 0.8% to $71.99 per barrel. Crude remains largely range bound. July natural gas futures shed 2.3% to finish at $4.803 per MMBtu on profit taking from its recent rally back towards the $5 mark.

August gold ended higher by 0.4% to $1246.50 per ounce. Gold did trade to a new all time high, at $1254.40 in the overnight session, but quickly pulled back from those levels and never retested them in pit trade. July silver closed higher by 1.1% to $18.375 per ounce.

Treasuries had a weak session. The benchmark 10-year Note fell 10 ticks so that its yield was lifted to 3.18%. Results from an auction of 3-year Notes did little to spur interest in the space. The bid-to-cover came in at 3.2, which is above recent averages, but at $116.3 billion the auction's dollar demand was the second weakest result over the past eight auctions.

Advancing Sectors: Materials (+2.5%), Telecom (+2.1%), Financials (+2.0%), Energy (+1.9%), Consumer Staples (+1.5%), Utilities (+1.3%), Industrials (+1.0%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.8%), Health Care (+0.2%), Tech (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: (None) DJ30 +123.49 NASDAQ -3.33 NQ100 -0.1% R2K -0.1% SP400 +0.6% SP500 +11.53 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1059/2.65 bln/1567 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1836/1.65 bln/1209