YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Stocks spent the session chopping along listlessly as market participants monitored the euro and digested a large batch of BP headlines and a the latest dose of economic data.

Trade was initially guided by action in the euro, which had come under pressure after yield spreads widened on Portugal and Spain's debt. With Spain scheduled to meet with authorities from the European Union and International Monetary Fund there was increased speculation that the country is in need of financial aid. The euro was down as much as 0.6% against the greenback and temporarily reversed that loss, but it still finished with a 0.2% loss at $1.23.

A clear leader never emerged from this session's action. Only the stodgy utilities sector traded with a steady gain. It settled 0.6% higher.

Market participants were hit with a barrage of headlines regarding BP (BP 31.85, +0.45) that stirred volatility in the stock. Shares of BP had been backed down to trade near their lows, but support near those lows resulted in a squeeze higher. The stock saw further support following its decision to suspend its dividend for the rest of this year and also to establish a $20 billion escrow fund for claims that stem from the Gulf oil spill. Those decisions seemed to remove some uncertainty about the company's compliance with government requests as a remedy for the spill is sought. Moreover, reports that bond guru Bill Gross purchased a bundle of BP debt provided a vote of confidence in the company.

In other corporate news, FedEx (FDX 78.07, -4.94) posted better-than-expected earnings of $1.33 per share for the latest quarter, but that was overshadowed by a forecast that called for fiscal 2011 earnings that would range from $4.40 to $5.00 per share, which is below Wall Street's current consensus forecast for earnings of $5.05 per share. The stock suffered its worst single-session slide in six months.

Shares of Nokia (NOK 8.77, -1.05) also slid sharply following a disappointing outlook. The stock dropped more than 10% after the company stated that it expects second quarter net sales for devices and services to be at the lower end or slightly below the previously stated range of 6.7 billion to 7.2 billion euros. The company is suspected of feeling competitive pressures from Apple (AAPL 267.56, +7.56) in the handset market; shares of AAPL outperformed and helped lead the Nasdaq 100 to a 0.4% gain, though the Nasdaq Composite closed flat.

Economic data for the day consisted of the May Producer Price Index, which fell 0.3% month-over-month when a 0.5% monthly decline had been widely expected. Excluding food and energy, producer prices made a 0.2% monthly increase, which is essentially in step with the 0.1% monthly increase that had been expected.

Housing starts and building permits disappointed. Specifically, housing starts for May dropped 10% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 593,000 units, which is well below the rate of 655,000 units that had been widely expected. Building permits for May dropped 5.9% month-over-month to an annualized rate of 574,000, which is well below the expected rate of 631,000.

Industrial production for May increased 1.2%, which bested the 0.9% increase that had been anticipated. Capacity utilization hit 74.7, which is in-line with the 74.5% that was widely forecast.

Commodities had a lackluster session overall, but the CRB Commodity Index still finished with a 0.3% gain. 

Oil outperformed after it recovered from selling pressure that was spurred by a larger-than-expected build of 1.69 million barrels in weekly oil inventories. It settled with a 1.0% gain at $77.70 per barrel.

Natural gas gave back a chunk of the gains that it recorded over recent sessions. The commodity closed with a 3.1% loss at $4.99 per MMBtu.

As for precious metals, gold prices gave up 0.3% to close pit trade at $1230.50 per ounce and silver settled 0.4% lower at $18.50 per ounce.

Advancing Sectors: Utilities (+0.6%), Health Care (+0.3%), Tech (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Consumer Discretionary (-0.6%), Consumer Staples (-0.5%), Industrials (-0.2%), Energy (-0.2%), Materials (-0.1%)
Unchanged: Financials, Telecom DJ30 +4.69 NASDAQ +0.05 NQ100 +0.4% R2K -0.4% SP400 -0.4% SP500 -0.62 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1063/1.94 bln/1563 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1245/1.17 bln/1796