YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Continued strength in cyclical stocks helped the stock market get off to an impressive start, but Thursday's trading session concluded in lackluster fashion after sellers moved against energy and financial stocks.

The stock market began the session with broad-based strength and climbed as high as 1.7%. The positive tone followed a deluge of earnings reports, which were generally better than expected and helped investors look past another dreary dose of weekly jobless data.

Buyers favored materials stocks and industrial stocks in the early going. At their highs, the two sectors were up as much as 3.9% and 3.0%, respectively. Materials finished with a gain of 3.0%, while industrials closed 0.7% higher.

The interest in materials and industrials compounded their recent gains, which have been underpinned by the belief that such early cycle stocks will be the first to recover when economic conditions improve. That argument has pushed materials stocks up 16% in the past month and industrial stocks up 19% in the past month.

Trading volume picked up in the final few minutes of the session to come in-line with recent trends. Until that time, the apparent lack of conviction in the broader market's climb seemed to enable sellers to rally around energy and financial stocks and cause the broader market to buckle. Many expected money managers and investors to increase their involvement this session by partaking in some end-of-month window dressing.

Energy finished as the worst performing sector by closing with a 2.1% loss. Oil and gas drillers (-3.5%) were some of the weakest performers, but weakness in integrated energy plays like Exxon Mobil (XOM 66.67, -1.77) caused the most damage in the sector, due to their market weight. Exxon Mobil faltered after reporting earnings results that missed analysts' expectations.

Financials fell under pressure as investors pushed back against bank stocks, which led gains in the prior session. Financials closed 0.8% lower.DJ30 -17.61 NASDAQ +5.36 SP500 -0.83 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1335/2.79 bln/1360 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1672/1.74 bln/1373