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From Briefing.com: 4:30 pm : Steady support gave stocks strong gains Tuesday, but resistance capped the climb.

The dollar was the primary driver of today's action. It slid to a 0.7% loss as the euro rallied in the wake of some strong eurozone PMI manufacturing data that overshadowed wider yield spreads on riskier debt of countries like Greece.

There was no domestic data posted today, but a barrage of reports begins tomorrow. Tomorrow also brings the latest FOMC policy statement, which is widely expected to include plans for further quantitative easing. Though the size and scope of any such plan are not known, the market's reaction to the announcement will be telling of whether there is confidence in the Fed's efforts to keep away a double dip.

With the dollar down markedly ahead of tomorrow's events, stocks were able to attract a broad bid that propped up all 10 major sectors. What is more, the buying effort drove the S&P 500 back to within one point of its five-month high before it encountered formidable resistance in the 1195 to 1196 zone. Though the stock market failed to set a new multi-month intraday high, it did book its best close since early May.

Of the major sectors, defensive-oriented utilities actually settled with the strongest gain. The sector's 1.2% gain came after it had underperformed in the prior session.

With a 1.1% gain energy stocks were not far behind. The sector was led by oil and gas explorers (+1.5%) and oil and gas equipment plays (+1.4) amid a 1.2% rise in oil prices to $83.90 per barrel. BP Plc (BP 41.42, +0.65) outperformed after it posted an upside earnings surprise.

Dow component Pfizer (PFE 17.45, -0.17) posted better-than-expected earnings of its own and issued in-line guidance, but were out of favor for all but the first few minutes of the session.

Financials managed only a modest 0.3% gain. The sector was partly hampered by weakness among bank stocks, which collectively fell to a 0.2% loss after analysts at Moody's downgraded U.S. regional banks' supported ratings. Participation was unimpressive once again.

Fewer than 1 billion shares changed hands on the NYSE this session. That made it clear that many investors would rather wait on the sidelines to see the midterm election results, hear the Fed's latest take on and plans for the economy, and assess jobs data at the end of the week.

Advancing Sectors: Utilities (+1.2%), Consumer Discretionary (+1.1%), Energy (+1.1%), Telecom (+0.9%), Materials (+0.9%), Tech (+0.9%), Health Care (+0.8%), Industrials (+0.8%), Consumer Staples (+0.4%), Financials (+0.3%)
Declining Sectors: (None)DJ30 +64.10 NASDAQ +28.68 NQ100 +1.1% R2K +2.1% SP400 +1.1% SP500 +9.19 NASDAQ Adv/Vol/Dec 1948/1.93 bln/702 NYSE Adv/Vol/Dec 2209/913 mln/772

4:37PM Universal Display and Acuity Brands (AYI) announce $2 million U.S. Department of Energy SBIR Phase III contract to demonstrate prototype phosphorescent OLED lighting system for commercial application (PANL) 26.49 +0.74 :

4:11PM STEC Inc beats by $0.11, beats on revs; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs in-line (STEC) 15.32 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.31 per share, $0.11 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.20; revenues fell 12.4% year/year to $86.1 mln vs the $79.4 mln consensus. Non-GAAP gross profit margin was 46.5% for the third quarter of 2010, vs 43.9% consensus, compared to 49.8% for the third quarter of 2009 and 42.7% for the second quarter of 2010. Co issues guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.31-0.33 vs. $0.25 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q4 revs of $88-90 mln vs. $88.48 mln Thomson Reuters consensus. "As evidence of our progress, we have made significant strides towards qualifying our ZeusIOPS SSDs with a SAS interface at two of our large OEM customers. In line with the storage industry's trend towards SAS interface technology, we are seeing an increase in orders of SAS interface SSDs. As a result, we now believe that sales of our SAS based ZeusIOPS SSDs could approach 40% of STEC's total ZeusIOPS revenue for the fourth quarter of 2010."

4:04PM FEI beats by $0.06, reports revs in-line; guides Q4 EPS above consensus, revs above consensus (FEIC) 21.84 +0.45 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.31 per share, ex-items, $0.06 better than the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.25; revenues rose 4.8% year/year to $153 mln vs the $153.8 mln consensus. Co issues upside guidance for Q4, sees EPS of $0.36-$0.41, ex-restructuring items, vs. $0.31 Thomson Reuters consensus; sees Q4 revs of $167-$175 mln vs. $162.96 mln Thomson Reuters consensus.

4:03PM Nanometrics reports EPS in-line, revs in-line (NANO) 14.18 +1.02 : Reports Q3 (Sep) earnings of $0.53 per share, in-line with the Thomson Reuters consensus of $0.53; revenues rose 6.1% year/year to $53.9 mln vs the $53.7 mln consensus.