YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The stock market stretched its streak of gains to six even though interest among buyers cooled amid a mixed batch of headlines.

Better-than-expected earnings and an upside forecast from UPS (UPS 68.89, +3.44) after the prior session's close seemed to set the stage for continued gains in the early going. The report propelled UPS to its best single-session percentage gain in more than one year and pushed the Dow Jones Transportation Index up 1.7% to a new 52-week high. CSX (CSX 55.25, -0.21) lagged even though analysts at Deutsche Bank raised their target on the rail carrier.

The broader market had a hard time trading in a clear direction as bounces fleeted and retreats ran into technical support. Still, the stock market was able to eke out another gain, which made for the best streak of gains by the S&P 500 in one month.

Action was also a bit choppy in the Nasdaq Composite, but the tech rich index resisted efforts to retreat into the red. Its relative strength was rooted in continued interest in large-cap tech ahead of the latest results from Google (GOOG 595.30, +6.30).

The dollar acted as an occasional headwind this session. It settled nearly 0.4% higher against a basket of foreign currencies as the euro was pressured amid rekindled concerns about the ability of Greece to service its debt and word that the country has lowered expectations for the amount it hopes to raise from a global dollar bond at the end of this month.

Rather than cheer China's torrid 11.9% increase in first quarter GDP, many market watchers in Asia grew increasingly concerned about the prospect of tighter monetary policy in the country, regardless of some cooler-than-expected inflationary data.

A stronger dollar acted as a headwind against commodities this session. That made for mixed trade, which culminated with a 0.1% loss for the CRB Commodity Index.

Precious metals finished fractionally higher after they recouped overnight losses. Gold prices closed pit trade at $1160.30 per ounce and silver settled at $18.43 per ounce.

Oil prices moved sideways for most of the afternoon. It closed with a 0.4% loss at $85.51 per barrel.

Natural gas was a standout, but for the wrong reason. It closed with a 4.9% loss just below $4.00 per MMBtu as sellers steadily applied stiff pressure after weekly natural gas inventories showed a larger-than-expected build.

Stateside data proved mixed. Weekly initial jobless claims were up more than expected to 484,000, while continuing claims climbed to a worse-than-expected 4.64 million.

Industrial production during March increased a much smaller-than-expected 0.1%, while at 73.2% capacity utilization was generally in-line with what had been expected.

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey hit a five-month high of 31.9 and the Philadelphia Fed Survey for April came in at 20.2 to beat the consensus estimate.

Trading volume was strong this session. In fact, with nearly 1.2 billion shares traded on the NYSE this session, volume on the big board surpassed its 200-day moving average for the first time since a quadruple witching options session nearly one month ago. Monthly options are set to expire tomorrow, so trading volume could see another spike in the week's final session.

Participants can also look forward to results from Bank of America (BAC 19.48, +0.08) and the latest housing start figures and building permit numbers Friday. The preliminary reading on consumer sentiment for April from the University of Michigan is also due tomorrow.

Advancing Sectors: Industrials (+0.9%), Tech (+0.5%), Consumer Discretionary (+0.4%)
Declining Sectors: Financials (-0.5%), Consumer Staples (-0.3%), Health Care (-0.3%), Telecom (-0.2%), Utilities (-0.2%)
Unchanged: Materials, Energy DJ30 +21.46 NASDAQ +10.83 NQ100 +0.5% R2K +0.3% SP400 -0.1% SP500 +1.02 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1537/2.76 bln/1145 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1449/1.20 bln/1549