YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: For a majority of the session stocks traded in negative territory, although the Nasdaq was a clear leader, finishing with a slight gain, while the S&P 500 and Dow closed with modest losses. Shares in technology leaders, such as Apple (AAPL 138.64 + 2.16) and Google (GOOG 414.40 +4.01), helped the tech-laden Nasdaq to outperform.

After the market opened moderately lower, stocks staged a brief rally to erase the pre-market losses until the preliminary July Michigan Sentiment data was released, which was worse than expected at 64.6 vs. a 70.0 consensus. The disappointing number derailed the rally and sent stocks on a steady downward course until the market hit its intra-day low at about 11:30 E.T. The stock market bounced off those lows and moved steadily higher until about 1:00 ET, and then generally chopped around in a tight range until the close. Preceding the Michigan Sentiment number was the surprisingly better than expected May Trade Balance report, released at 8:30 ET, which was reported at -$26 billion vs. -$30 billion. While the report seemed decidedly positive, it had a muted affect on futures price

Perhaps the corporate news item that captured the most attention, and headlines, came before the open when General Motors  announced its exit plans from bankruptcy with a new corporate structure and stronger balance sheet. More specifically, the company stated that it expects to be taken public next year and plans to repay its government loans much soon than the 2015 timeline. In other corporate news, Chevron (CVX 61.40 -1.68) stated that the benefit to upstream earnings in 2Q09 from increased oil prices will be largely offset by substantial unfavorable foreign currency effects. Also, downstream results are projected to be significantly lower than the first quarter. Shares of other major oil and gas companies, such as Exxon Mobil (XOM 65.12 -0.85) and Marathon Oil (MRO 28.30 -0.37), also traded with losses following that news. Further compounding the issue for energy related stocks, was that the price of crude oil continued its slide lower, finishing the session lower by 1.0% at $59.82 per barrel. For metals, September silver contracts closed down 2.2% at $12.65/ounce and August gold dropped 0.4% at $912.30/ounce, although the contracts gained momentum throughout the session.

In terms of leaders and laggards, financials were weak for most of the session, as was energy. Shares of JP Morgan (JPM 32.34 -1.28), Citigroup (C 2.59 -0.10), and Wells Fargo (WFC 22.87 -0.41) were a few of the notably weak stocks in the sector. Additionally, ag-related fertilizer stocks were down about 3-9%, following potash contract negotiations between India and Russian potash producer Silvinit, which came in at $460/mt, significantly below the prior year's level of $625/mt. Industrials was the lone major sector to post gains.

As the day wore on, news flow and volume slowed considerably. With earnings season set to kick in next week, many participants likely sat on the sidelines waiting to get a better feel for how June quarter results will play out. DJ30 -36.7 NASDAQ +3.5 SP500 -3.6 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1403/1679/1220 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1435/922.1/1529