Dow gains as manufacturing grows

US stocks are starting October with moderate gains after some encouraging signs on manufacturing today.

Shares of big manufacturing companies like Boeing and GE rose after the Institute for Supply Management said its manufacturing index showed that factory activity was still expanding in September.

Stock indexes started the day higher but gave up some of their gains late in the day. The market is coming off a major surge that brought the Dow Jones industrial average up 10.4% in the third quarter.

“Expectations have risen slightly” for the economy in the past month, said Eric Thorne, an investment adviser at Bryn Mawr Trust Wealth Management. “While that’s a good thing, it also means that data needs to show significant signs of improvement to drive stocks higher.”

Stocks jumped after the opening bell on signs of strong growth in Chinese manufacturing.

Traders were sorting through other reports suggesting that US economic growth remains sluggish.

Personal income and spending both rose more than expected in August, with incomes jumping by their fastest pace in eight months.

However the savings rate also climbed, an indication that spending might not climb much in the near future.

Consumer sentiment was better than initially thought in September, but still not quite as strong as it was in August.

Taken together, the batch of US economic reports point to “very slow growth,” said Bob Enck, president and CEO of Equinox Fund Management. “It tells us there’s still uncertainty.”

According to preliminary calculations, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 41.63, or 0.45, to close at 10,829.68.

The Standard&Poor’s 500 index rose 5.04, or 0.4%, to 1,146.24.