YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Leadership from the financial sector helped stocks log their third straight gain after they spent most of the session chopping along in negative territory amid a moderately stronger U.S. dollar. Though the greenback's gains weighed on the stock market and many commodities, it didn't deter gold from extending recent gains.

Stocks spent most of the session trading listlessly as the Dollar Index recovered from losses in the past three sessions to advance 0.2% Wednesday. However, bank stocks emerged with strength after struggling to find direction in the early going. With banks finishing strong, the KBW Bank Index netted a 1.2% gain and the broader financial sector settled at session highs with a 1.0% gain.

The energy sector was the next best performing sector. It finished 0.6% higher even though oil prices closed pit trade 1.7% lower at $69.66 per barrel. Oil prices were hampered by bearish gasoline inventory data, which overshadowed news of a 978,000 barrel draw in crude oil. The consensus had called for a build of 2 million barrels of crude.

Though a stronger dollar likely added to oil's woes this session, it didn't derail gold from continuing its ascent. Gold futures closed at $1044.70 per ounce, up 0.5%, but had been as high as $1049.70 per ounce in overnight trade. Small-cap gold stocks and precious metals stocks of a lower quality benefited most from gold's gains as momentum money trickled into the group. That helped the materials sector (+0.2%) offset general weakness among commodities-related stocks and basic materials stocks that stemmed from a 0.4% decline in the CRB Commodity Index.

Monsanto (MON 74.33, -1.04) was also a drag on the materials sector. The company posted better-than-expected adjusted earnings of $0.02 per share, but reaffirmed downside guidance for fiscal 2010.

Other earnings announcements were generally positive as Yum! Brands (YUM 34.37, -0.49), Costco (COST 59.00, +1.07), and Family Dollar (FDO 28.21, -0.27) each bested earnings expectations for the latest quarter.

Leadership from the financial sector may have led the S&P 500 to a strong finish, but it couldn't prevent the telecom sector from logging an outsized loss of 2.9%. Weakness among integrated telecom giants AT&T (T 26.18, -0.56) and Verizon (VZ 29.38, -0.31) kept the Dow from making a gain of its own.

Separately, Treasuries made solid gains. The benchmark 10-year Note settled some 22 ticks higher, which pushed its yield back below 3.2%, following strong results from a $20 billion auction of 10-year Notes.

Advancing Sectors: Financials (+1.0%), Energy (+0.6%), Tech (+0.5%), Consumer Staples (+0.3%), Materials (+0.2%), Health Care (+0.2%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Telecom (-2.9%), Industrials (-0.3%), Utilities (-0.2%)DJ30 -5.67 NASDAQ +6.76 NQ100 +0.3% R2K unch% SP400 unch% SP500 +2.86 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1300/2.23 bln/1319 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1567/1.09 bln/1384