Mixed results in US stocks

US stocks painted a mixed picture at midday yesterday as the broader market appeared to absorb the shock of a weak manufacturing report, while the Nasdaq floundered despite upbeat news from Dell and Sun Microsystems.

Market watchers said a combination of hope and anxiety on the part of investors was pulling the market in opposite directions on the first day of the fourth quarter.

About 11:30am, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 40.09 points at 7,632.99. The Nasdaq composite dipped 5.92 to 1,166.12, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index was up 1.62 to 816.98.