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From Briefing.com: 4:15 pm : In contrast to the past couple of sessions, stocks managed to maintain solid gains into the close on Monday. The advance was broad based, but financials lagged from the start.

A dip by the dollar helped bring buyers into the stock market and keep the bullish trend intact. The greenback fell 0.4% against competing currencies; it was never able to muster an actual gain against the basket.

The dollar's decline proved particularly beneficial for energy stocks, which led for the entire session and settled with a 1.8% gain. Higher oil prices helped the energy space; contracts closed pit trade with crude oil priced 2.7% higher at $82.16 per barrel. Though no specific price was given, an OPEC chief stated that oil prices will not be allowed to rise too high, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Oil wasn't the only commodity to attract buyers, though. Broad-based interest for natural resources spurred the CRB Commodity Index to a 2.1% gain, which was its best single-session percentage advance in more than one month.

Strength among commodities and basic materials helped diversified metals and mining stocks spike a collective 4.7% higher. That sort of support helped the broader materials sector outperform, though it eased back a bit to finish with a 0.9% gain, which was even with what health care and industrials scored.

Though the stock market traded with relatively steady gains for most of the session, financials oscillated between positive and negative territory, lagging all the while. Still, the sector managed to finish with a 0.2% gain as it struggled to hold near the 52-week high that it set last week. Many market pundits have long pointed to the financial sector as a necessary source of support for continued gains in the broader market.

Economic data is also a key catalyst for trade, but the latest dose did little for participants. According to figures, consumption expenditures in February increased 0.3%, as expected, while core personal consumption expenditures were flat, which was not too much of a surprise since the consensus had called for a tepid 0.1% increase. Total and disposable income posted no growth in February -- a 0.1% increase had been expected.

The lack of market-moving data and the absence of any major corporate news items made for moderate participation, such that trading volume on the NYSE failed to eclipse 1 billion shares. DJ30 +45.50 NASDAQ +9.23 NQ100 +0.4% R2K +0.4% SP400 +0.8% SP500 +6.63 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1539/1.88 bln/1115 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2097/944 mln/944

11:43AM Cisco Systems receives antitrust approvals from European Commission and US Department of Justice for pending acquisition of TANDBERG (CSCO) 26.61 +0.15 : Co announced that it has received approval from the European Commission for its proposed acquisition of TANDBERG and that the Antitrust Division of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) has announced that it will not challenge the proposed acquisition in light of the commitments Cisco has made to the European Commission. The transaction remains subject to ongoing regulatory review in Brazil; however, the antitrust approvals from the European Commission and Justice Department represent the final regulatory approvals required before the transaction can close. Cisco and TANDBERG anticipate closing in the coming weeks.

11:34AM First Solar system integrator Assyce Fotovoltaica is constructing the largest First Solar photovoltaic power plant in Spain (FSLR) 120.07 +3.57 : First Solar's Spanish system integrator, Assyce Fotovoltaica, is constructing the largest First Solar free-field solar power plant in Extremadura, with a capacity of more than 26 MWp. The power plant with a land area of 69 hectares should be completed by the end of the year and will generate more than 42 mln kilowatt-hours of electricity per year. The construction of the free-field solar power plant began at the end of January.

MIPS Technologies (MIPS) and Virage Logic (VIRL) announce that they are teaming to offer optimized embedded memory IP for joint customers..

Sanmina-SCI Corporation (SANM) announces the formal inauguration of its state-of-the-art technology manufacturing campus in the Oragadam Hi-Tech Special Economic Zone near Chennai in the state of Tamil Nadu...

SunPower (SPWRA, SPWRB) announces that it has completed its acquisition of SunRay Renewable Energy, a leading European solar power plant developer with offices in Europe and the Middle East. As a result, SunPower has expanded its project pipeline to include more than 1,200 megawatts of solar photovoltaic projects in various stages of development in Italy, France, Israel, Spain, the United Kingdom and Greece.

7:30AM Bell Microproducts to be acquired by Avnet for $7.00 per share; raises lower end of Q1 rev guidance (BELM) 5.38 : Bell Microproducts to be acquired by Avnet (AVT) in an all cash merger for $7.00 per share, which equates to an equity value of approximately $252 mln and a transaction value of approximately $594 million assuming a net debt position for Bell of $342 million at face value as of December 31, 2009. The acquisition has been approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies and is subject to the approval of Bell's shareholders as well as customary regulatory approvals. The transaction is expected to close in 60 to 120 days, deliver at least 12.5% ROCE for Avnet post integration and should be immediately accretive to earnings excluding integration and transaction costs. Co also raises Q1 revs guidance to $795-815 mln vs $809.00 mln Thomson Reuters consensus, from previous guidance of $780-815 mln. Further, management is anticipating a first quarter shift in product mix. Distribution sales are expected to be relatively strong and approximately flat with Q4 sales levels, representing an estimated increase of 17% to 20% from the first quarter of 2009. ProSys, the Company's reseller division, is expected to generate lower than previously anticipated sales volumes, primarily due to seasonally lower purchases by a few large customers. Due to this product mix shift from higher margin single-tier sales and in part due to seasonality, the co anticipates generating first quarter gross margins of between 8.5% and 9.0%, a decline from 9.4% in the fourth quarter of 2009.