YAHOO [BRIEFING.COM]: Modest gains in the early going turned into modest losses during afternoon action, but some late support helped the stock market settle higher for the sixth straight session. There weren't many catalysts to account for this session's trade; instead, stocks were largely left to move on their own.

Amid a lack of news flow, early participants took their cues from overseas markets, which made solid gains on the back of better-than-expected economic data in Japan and word that stimulus policies in China will remain intact. A modest pullback by the greenback also provided early support to stocks. The Dollar Index settled with a 0.1% loss.

However, stocks came under pressure in afternoon trade. Financials proved to be a particular drag on action and fell 0.3% as bank stocks sank to a 0.7% loss, based on the KBW Bank Index. That slide came even though the Federal Reserve proposed amendments that would offer interest-bearing term deposits to eligible institutions.

Though financials faltered, the broader market was able to reclaim its gains into the close. Telecom and health care settled 0.6% and 0.4% higher, respectively, and were the best performing sectors.

Retailers looked relatively strong for the entire session amid news from MasterCard Advisors' SpendingPulse that U.S. retail holiday sales increased an estimated 3.6% year-over-year. Internet retailers contributed meaningfully to the increase so Amazon.com (AMZN 139.29, +0.82) garnered support, but its strength faded. Still, it was able to provide support to the Nasdaq 100, which outperformed the headline indices by booking a 0.5% gain.

Commodities performed well for the entire session. That helped the CRB Commodity Index climb 1.3% to trade at a fresh two-month high, even though weakness in the dollar was relatively tame.

Treasuries tripped again. That took the benchmark 10-year Note down nine ticks and its yield to 3.84%, which puts it near four-month highs. Treasuries temporarily pared their losses amid news that results from an auction of two-year Notes produced a bid-to-cover that was in-line with this year's average of 2.9. The two-year Note fell four ticks, which put its yield at 1.04%.

Only some 700 million shares exchanged hands on the NYSE this session. Though Christmas holiday has passed, light action is likely to persist until after the new year.

Advancing Sectors: Telecom (+0.6%), Health Care (+0.4%), Energy (+0.3%), Tech (+0.2%), Utilities (+0.2%), Materials (+0.2%), Consumer Staples (+0.1%)
Declining Sectors: Financials (-0.3%), Industrials (-0.1%)
Unchanged: Consumer DiscretionaryDJ30 +26.98 NASDAQ +5.39 NQ100 +0.5% R2K +0.0% SP400 +0.0% SP500 +1.30 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1215/1.23 bln/1482 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 1555/705 mln/1482