YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Thanks to some strong announcements from a few key tech players, stocks were able to build on the previous session's upward momentum and start Friday considerably higher. However, stocks were unable to hold their initial gains as the belief that recent positive announcements have already been priced into stocks prompted sellers to book profits. That resulted in a lackluster finish for the major indices.

Dell (DELL 15.93, +0.27) helped extend the previous session's positive bias into after-hours trading by posting a better-than-expected adjusted $0.28 per share for its latest quarter. The company went on to offer an encouraging assessment of demand.

Semiconductor outfit Marvell Tech (MRVL 15.36, +0.73) also announced last evening better-than-expected earnings. It brought in an adjusted $0.18 per share, but went on to issue an upside earnings forecast during its conference call.

Fellow semiconductor company Intel (INTC 20.25, +0.78) bolstered the positive bias in morning trading by stepping out with an increased revenue forecast, which now calls for a top line of approximately $9 billion in the current quarter. Analysts, on average, had forecast some $8.5 billion in revenue for the quarter.

With tech making such strong announcements, market participants were generally indifferent to personal income and spending data for July. Income was flat and spending was up 0.2%, while core personal consumption expenditures were up 0.1%. Each was essentially in-line with expectations.

Though this morning's announcements helped take the major indices to fresh highs for 2009, their stay there was short-lived. The reversal marks a sign that equity markets are having difficulty rallying on good news. Since stocks failed to hold its opening gains, a substantial portion of the recent good news could already be factored into stock prices.

One variable in that scenario, though, is the light trading volume that has defined market activity in recent weeks. Once again, trading volume was well below the longer-term averages by coming in below 1.2 billion shares on the NYSE this session.

Despite a low-volume, lackluster close for the broader market, there were a handful of strong finishes. Tech stocks were able to settle 0.3% higher, followed by a 0.2% gain among financials, thanks to continued buying in AIG (AIG 650.23, +2.39). Retailers finished fractionally higher as better-than-expected earnings from Tiffany (TIF 37.57, +3.82) and J. Crew (JCG 34.73, +1.97) provided support. Materials stocks had the best gains, though; they finished 0.6% higher.DJ30 -36.43 NASDAQ +1.04 NQ100 +0.1% R2K -0.7% SP400 +0.2% SP500 -2.05 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 938/2.35 bln/1731 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1508/1.19 bln/1489