YAHOO[BRIEFING.COM]: Leading up to the opening bell, financial stocks had surged almost 40% from last week's multiyear low. The sector showed continued strength in the early going and even drove the broader market higher, but with conditions looking overbought, participants decided to take some money out of the game.

British banking giant Barclays (BCS 5.31, +0.89) spurred financial stocks higher across foreign indices when it stated it has had a strong start to the year, and it is shopping its iShares business, which could pad its balance sheet with new capital.

Meanwhile, global financial giant HSBC (HBC 26.91, +0.93) indicated it does not need more capital. That proclamation followed a recent rights offering.

With confidence building, diversified banks and financial services outfits Citigroup (C 2.33, +0.55), Bank of America (BAC 6.18, +0.42), and JPMorgan Chase (JPM 23.09, -0.66) were able to provide further support to the financial sector.

Financial stocks were up 6.0% at their session high, carrying the broader market up as much as 2.4%. Despite what was shaping up to be another strong session of broad-based gains, sellers emerged in afternoon trading push financial stocks into the red. With financials back under pressure, the broader market was unable to hold its gains. Financials finished the session with a 1.9% loss, while the stock market closed with a modest loss at its session lows.

The downturn snapped the stock market's four-session run of gains. Despite the move to take profits, participants continue to anticipate positive headlines.

Reuters reports the Financial Accounting Standards Board proposed allowing companies more judgment in determining distressed markets for accounting purposes by the first-quarter reporting period. That could help boost mark-to-market values.

Fed Chairman Bernanke stated in a weekend interview with 60 Minutes that the economy could recover by next year with support from lawmakers and the public. That wasn't anything different than Bernanke has said before, but this time traders reacted more positively, suggesting the emergence of a more positive bias in the overall market.

An improved tone has led participants to pick up beaten down stocks, but that has meant many are rotating out of the sectors that had held up against selling pressure during recent weeks. Particularly, tech stocks were sent markedly lower this session. Technology shares showed relative weakness throughout the entire session, and closed with a 1.7% loss. The weakness in large-cap tech stocks caused the Nasdaq to lag its counterparts since the opening bell.

Energy stocks showed weakness early on, but managed to close with a 0.8% gain. That came as crude oil prices rebounded from early weakness to close pit trading modestly higher at $46.30 per barrel. Oil's gyrations came after OPEC decided during its weekend meeting to leave production levels unchanged.

Economic data was light this session. February industrial production declined 1.4%, which is essentially in-line with the consensus 1.3% decline. Capacity utilization dipped to 70.9% from 71.9%, as generally expected. The February report continues to reflect a weak demand environment that will ultimately drag on GDP.

The Fed's policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee begins its two-day meeting tomorrow. Since the FOMC is expected to leave the target lending rate at a range of 0.00% to 0.25%, most attention will be paid to the wording of Wednesday's statement.DJ30 -7.01 NASDAQ -27.48 NQ100 -2.0% R2K -1.7% SP400 -1.4% SP500 -2.66 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1165/2.15 bln/1506 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1768/1.90 bln/1303