Stocks rise as US manufacturing recovers

New York (AP) — New signs of life in the U.S. manufacturing sector sent buyers back to the stock market Tuesday. Ford rose after reporting higher sales for March.

Keeping score: The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 10 points, or 0.6 percent, to 1,883 in the first 45 minutes of trading. Eight of the ten sectors in the index rose, led by consumer discretionary stocks. The S&P 500 was slightly above its record close it set on March 7. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 88 points, or 0.5 percent, to 16,548. The Nasdaq composite rose 49 points, or 1.2 percent, to 4,249.

Auto sales: Ford rose 47 cents, or 3 percent, after reporting a bump up in sales last month. Ford's U.S. sales chief John Felice says demand picked up in the middle of the month, and the company's top-selling F-Series truck sales gained 5 percent.

Economy watch: The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index rose to 53.7 in March, up from 53.2 in February, as the nation's factories continued to rev up following the severe winter storms earlier this year. Separately, the Commerce Department said construction spending rose by 0.1 percent in February, after falling by 0.2 percent in January. That number was in line with investors' expectations.

Other markets: Bond prices fell. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note edged up to 2.76 percent from 2.72 percent late Monday. The price of crude oil slipped 34 cents to $101.24. Gold was little changed at $1,284 an ounce.

by Ken Sweet, AP Markets Writer

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The Gayly – April 1, 2014 @ 10:25am