There were hardly any cues for market participants to follow this session. Still, buyers showed confidence and bid stocks higher in broad-based fashion.

Aside from some early gyrations, stocks spent nearly all of the session moving sideways with the S&P 500 stuck between 925 and 928, which translated to gains from 0.7% to 1.0%. A lack of clear leadership seemed to restrain stocks from moving higher and breaking above the intraday highs registered in recent weeks.

All 10 major sectors in the S&P 500 logged healthy gains. Financials (+1.4%), utilities (+1.3%), telecom (+1.2%), and energy (+1.3%) all made similar gains.

Energy stocks were bolstered by higher oil prices, which finished 3.4% higher at $71.49 per barrel. The gains came despite news that the IEA cut its annual oil demand forecasts through 2013. That was countered by news that China is looking to boost its oil reserves by 160%.

Health care stocks (+0.5%) lagged for the entire session, but were able to recover from morning losses. The sector's weakness spanned health care facilities, health care tech, and health care distributors amid ongoing efforts to reform health care, which have often made for unsuccessful endeavors in past years.

Tech stocks had showed relative strength in the early going, but also lagged the broader market into the close. They finished with a gain of 0.7%. Apple (AAPL 141.97, +0.47) was an early leader in the group, but surrendered its gains despite news that chief executive Steve Jobs will return to work at Apple after being on medical leave. Relative weakness in other large-cap tech stocks caused the Nasdaq to underperform its counterparts.

Participants can expect a few more headlines starting tomorrow, when the June Consumer Confidence Index is released shortly after the opening bell. The ADP Employment report for June, ISM Manufacturing report, and pending home sales data are due Wednesday. Thursday marks the release of the government's official Nonfarm Payrolls report for June, as well as the latest initial jobless claims data and factory orders for May. U.S. markets are closed Friday in observance of Independence Day -- the holiday-shortened week could make for light trading volume; as such, hardly 1 billion shares traded hands on the NYSE this session.DJ30 +90.54 NASDAQ +5.84 NQ100 +0.2% R2K -0.5% SP400 +0.7% SP500 +8.24 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1177/1.97 bln/1471 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1826/975 mln/1178