YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: The stock market dropped more than 1% as participants shrugged off another batch of better-than-expected earnings amid renewed concerns about the fiscal health of Greece, but technical support helped set the stage for an afternoon rally that took stocks to a modest gain.

More than 90% of the components in the S&P 500 were in the red during the early going, even though more than 80% of the companies in Briefing.com's coverage universe reported either in-line earnings or positive upside surprises since the prior session's close. However, with strong results now the norm, the sense of surprise has diminished and made the companies that fail to issue strong forecasts susceptible to sellers. PepsiCo (PEP 64.76, -1.22), Qualcomm (QCOM 39.33, -3.30), and eBay (EBAY 24.78, -1.51) each surpassed the consensus for the latest quarter, but their forecasts failed to inspire. In contrast, Starbucks (SBUX 27.75, +1.86), SanDisk (SNDK 42.22, +4.63), and Marriott International (MAR 36.82, +2.15) saw their share prices spike after they had posted better-than-expected earnings and upbeat guidance.

A stronger dollar also acted as an overhang. Its 0.5% gain came mostly against the euro, which fell to a new 11-month low of 1.326. The euro's slide followed news that Greece's budget deficit for 2009 was worse than expected. Greece's deficit led analysts at Moody's to downgrade the country's sovereign rating to A3.

Despite widespread weakness in the early going, stocks steadied their side as the S&P 500 ran into the 1190 line, which marked the stock market's 20-day moving average. The same technical line provided support when stocks sold off late last week.

The technical support set the stage for a rebound, which gained momentum as stocks worked their way above the lows from the prior session and short sellers were squeezed. In the end, nearly 70% of the names in the broader market booked a gain.

Homebuilders were some of the strongest. They rallied to a 6.0% gain, but that was helped by a stronger-than-expected 6.8% increase in existing home sales during March. Sales hit an annualized rate of 5.35 million units, the highest this year, thanks to rush of homebuyers that wanted to take advantage of tax credits.

Other data has less of an impact on trade. Weekly initial jobless claims were slightly higher than expected at 456,000 and continuing claims were worse than expected at 4.65 million. Meanwhile, producer prices increased 0.7% in March, but core producer prices were up a tepid 0.1%, which was in-line with expectations.

Commodities closed pit trade in mixed fashion, but the CRB Commodity Index was still able to settle with a 0.1% gain, its third straight advance.

Natural gas prices were especially strong in the wake of a smaller-than-expected build in weekly inventories. The commodity had been down ahead of the report, but ripped higher to close with a 4.3% gain to close at $4.12 per MMBtu.

Oil prices also staged a rally, but they only finished fractionally higher at $83.70 per barrel.

Precious metals pared losses, but were unable to settle with a gain. Gold prices had been down more than 1% at their session low, but closed pit trade with a 0.5% loss at $1142.90 per ounce. Silver settled with a 0.4% loss at $18.01 per ounce.

Participation was strong as nearly 1.3 billion shares exchanged hands on the NYSE this session. Not only is that above the 200-day moving average of 1.18 billion shares, but it is one of the most actively traded non-options expirations sessions this year.

Advancing Sectors: Consumer Discretionary (+1.7%), Materials (+0.8%), Industrials (+0.7%), Financials (+0.6%), Utilities (+0.4%), Tech (+0.2%)
Declining Sectors: Health Care (-1.3%), Telecom (-0.3%), Consumer Staples (-0.3%), Energy (-0.1%) DJ30 +9.37 NASDAQ +14.46 NQ100 +0.5% R2K +1.1% SP400 +1.2% SP500 +2.73 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1667/2.72 bln/998 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2014/1.29 bln/1052