Yahoo [briefing.com]: Stocks started the session in higher ground, but stumbled as a lack of leadership kept the broader market from countering a rebound by the dollar. In turn, the S&P 500 saw its recent streak of gains come to an end.

Participants returned to Tuesday's trade willing to extend the previous session's modest advance. That enabled the S&P 500 to open at its 52-week high with broad-based gains. This session's lack of leadership caught up with stocks, though. As the Dollar Index swung from a morning loss of roughly 0.5% to a gain of 0.3%, the broader equity market slipped into negative territory, unable to rally behind a leader.

While the greenback eased back a bit to settle with a 0.2% gain against a basket of foreign currencies, stocks were unable to garner enough support to push higher. The stock market's loss this session was slight, but it still finished on a weak note near session lows. The downward move ended the stock market's streak of gains at six.

Consumer discretionary stocks (+0.2%), industrial stocks (+0.2%), and consumer staples stocks (+0.1%) were the only major sectors to net a gain this session. Energy stocks had the weakest showing and fell to a 0.7% loss. The sector's weakness came even though oil prices managed to muster a fractional gain and close pit trade at $78.02 per barrel.

Little attention was paid to news that the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Index for October came in at 146.6, which is in step with the consensus of 147.0. The Composite 20-city Home Price Index for October fell 7.3% year-over-year, which is on par with the consensus 7.2% year-over-year decline. That's the slowest rate of decline in two years.

The Consumer Confidence Index for December also did little to move the market this session. It came in at 52.9, which is in-line with the 53.0 that had been widely forecast.

Results from a $42 billion auction of five-year Treasuries caused little stir among both stocks and Treasuries. The auction was met with a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.6, which is above this year's average ratio of 2.3, but below the previous auction's ratio of 2.8. The benchmark 10-year Note was able to make its way higher into the close and finish with a gain of nine ticks, though. That put its yield back near 3.80%.

Advancing Sectors: Consumer Discretionary (+0.2%), Industrials (+0.2%), Consumer Staples (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Energy (-0.7%), Financials (-0.4%), Health Care (-0.2%), Materials (-0.1%), Utilities (-0.1%), Tech (-0.1%)
Unchanged: Telecom DJ30 -1.67 NASDAQ -2.68 NQ100 -0.3% R2K -0.1% SP400 -0.2% SP500 -1.58 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1315/1.19 bln/1358 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1482/638 mln/1525