YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: For the second straight session strength in the energy sector helped the broader market make an upward move in the waning minutes of trade, but this time it wasn't enough to fully overcome the weakness that stemmed from a handful of disappointing earnings reports.

Weakness enveloped stocks in the early going as market participants reacted negatively to the latest batch of earnings releases. Dow component IBM (IBM 121.64, -6.34) was out last evening with better-than-expected earnings and even raised its earnings forecast for 2009. However, the company's top line was down from the previous year, indicating that demand hasn't fully rebounded.

Google (GOOG 549.85, +19.94) also reported after the close of trading Thursday. The company brought in $5.89 per share, which bested the consensus estimate of $5.42 per share. Google distinguished its report from many others this earnings season by posting an increase to its revenue.

Economic bellwether and industrial conglomerate General Electric (GE 16.08, -0.71) brought in better-than-expected earnings of its own, though it saw continued pressure in its capital finance business and was hit with a 20% year-over-year drop in revenue.

Bank of America (BAC 17.26, -0.84) kept the focus of participants on the negative side of things by unveiling a deeper-than-expected loss of $0.26 per share for the third quarter. Disappointment from Bank of America's report extended the financial sector's losses from the prior session, leaving it to finish this session with a 2.6% loss and down 0.2% for the week.

Weakness in the financial sector bled into the broader market and hampered it for the entire session.

Stocks did manage to pare some of their losses, though. The move came late in the session as energy stocks staged a rally on the heels of rising oil prices. Oil prices hit a new 2009 high of $78.67 per barrel and settled just off those highs at $78.51 per barrel, up 1.2%. However, energy stocks couldn't hold steady in positive ground and slipped to a fractional loss, instead. The broader market also lost its momentum in the final minutes of trade.

Economic data wasn't much of a help to stocks. The University of Michigan Preliminary Sentiment Consumer Survey came in at 69.4, which is below the 73.3 that was widely expected.

Meanwhile, industrial production was up 0.7% in September. That beat the 0.2% increase that was expected.

Advancing Sectors: Consumer Staples (+0.4%), Utilities (+0.3%)
Declining Sectors: Financials (-2.6%), Materials (-1.4%), Tech (-1.0%), Telecom (-0.9%), Industrials (-0.9%), Consumer Discretionary (-0.6%), Health Care (-0.4%), Energy (-0.1%)DJ30 -67.03 NASDAQ -16.49 NQ100 -0.8% R2K -1.2% SP400 -1.0% SP500 -8.88 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 837/2.21 bln/1828 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1041/1.39 bln/1962