YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The major equity averages started the session in positive ground, but after failing to push above midmorning highs sellers mounted an assault that took stocks into the red to finish at session lows.

Losses were broad-based for the second straight session. Trading volume was also light for the second straight session, suggesting a lack of conviction behind the recent moves.

Sellers focused their efforts against materials stocks again. Materials suffered more than any other sector this session by shedding 2.4%. The sector has declined almost 6% during the last two sessions.

Steel stocks have been a primary source of weakness for the sector in recent sessions, but they managed to advance 0.7% this session. The upward move came after Nucor (NUE 46.86, +1.11) issued guidance that was slightly better than expected.

Declining commodities prices certainly haven't helped materials stocks, though. Commodities started the session with solid, broad-based gains, but surrendered most of the advance. In turn, the CRB Commodity Index shed 0.2%.

Though consumer discretionary stocks didn't finish with the worst loss of the major sectors, they lagged for most of the session. Their weakness came despite better-than-expected first quarter earnings and an in-line outlook from Best Buy (BBY 35.84, -2.82). Retailers surrendered 3.1% and the consumer discretionary sector dropped 2.4%.

Of the 10 major sectors in the S&P 500, only health care (+0.2%) finished higher. Managed health care providers (+2.9%) bounded amid ongoing debate regarding health care reform.

There were several economic items out today, but none of them had much of a strong influence on trading. Housing starts for May increased 17.2% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 532,000. Building permits, meanwhile, climbed 4.0% to an annualized rate of 518,000. Both numbers bounced more than expected from record low levels. Still, participants remain cognizant that a meaningful and sustainable upturn in residential construction activity is unlikely to come about quickly.

Meanwhile, PPI data was below expectations with core data actually showing a decline, helping to calm inflation concerns amid the government's massive stimulus efforts. According to Reuters, the Fed's Warsh stated that inflation trends since the last FOMC meeting have been encouraging.

In other economic news, industrial production and capacity utilization for May both declined a bit from the previous month, but they were both on par with forecasts.

Tomorrow's calendar is lighter on economic data. The May CPI report headlines the docket.DJ30 -107.46 NASDAQ -20.20 NQ100 -0.9% R2K -1.6% SP400 -1.7% SP500 -11.75 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 753/2.26 bln/1876 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 848/1.18 bln/2160