U.S. stocks mostly rose Monday as growth in manufacturing provided more evidence that the economy may be picking up, or at least not getting any worse.
The gains came after news that U.S. manufacturing grew in September for the first time in four months. Stocks had already been up in morning trading, but the gains accelerated after the report was released by the Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers.
The Dow Jones industrial average rose 68 points to 13,515 in afternoon trading, after rising as much as 161 earlier in the day.