Blue chips managed to advance Thursday after encouraging signs in the day's labor market and manufacturing reports, but the gains were modest and tech selling kept the Nasdaq from joining the advance.
The Dow Jones industrial average gained 58 points, or about 0.7%. The S&P 500 index rose nearly 8 points, or 0.8%. The Nasdaq composite was barely changed.
A three-month market rally has lost steam over the last week as bets that the pace of the recession is waning have turned to worries that the market has gotten ahead of itself. Reports on Thursday provided some reassurance, but stocks remain vulnerable to further pullbacks in the near term.
