US Market Commentary(After Market Close): Broad Buying Buoys Stocks to Fresh Highs for Year

Broad-based buying helped stocks bounce back from a dip at the open to log fresh highs for 2009, but the S&P 500 met resistance when it hit the 1100 mark, which was last seen just over one year ago.

Strong gains in overseas markets helped set a positive tone for participants in the early going, but weakness in the financial sector quickly undercut the broader market's opening gain. Regional banks (-1.7%) were the primary source of weakness for the financial sector. Their losses came after BB&T (BBT 27.03, -1.22) unveiled its latest quarterly results, which actually featured better-than-expected earnings of $0.23 per share. However, the regional lender also reported a sharp year-over-year rise in loss provisions and couldn't confirm whether its charge-offs have peaked.

Though stocks stumbled in early trade as a result of weakness among financial issues, it didn't take long for participants to step in and bid stocks higher. Ensuing gains were strong and broad-based and pushed all three major indices to new highs for the year.

Stocks in the S&P 500 weren't able to push through the psychologically significant 1100 level, but they didn't roll over after being rebuffed, either. The best gains were had by consumer discretionary stocks and materials stocks. Both advanced 1.4%.

Gains by consumer discretionary sector came even though Hasbro (HAS 28.42, -1.10) traded as a laggard. Shares of the company were sold off after the stock had pushed considerably higher in the session's leading up to this morning's earnings report, which featured an upside earnings surprise.

Meanwhile, materials stocks benefited from both broader market interest and higher commodity prices, which sent the CRB Commodity Index to a fresh high for the year.

A weaker dollar proved beneficial for both commodities and stocks this session. The greenback shed 0.3% against a basket of major foreign currencies this session. That has left the Dollar Index fractionally above its 12-month lows.

Trading volume was unimpressive this session. Hardly 1 billion shares traded hands on the NYSE. Recent averages stand above 1.2 billion shares.