The first trading day of October laid a good foundation for the month after the release of some positive news from the Institute of Supply Management via their September 2010 manufacturing report. The report showed that economic activity within the manufacturing sector grew in September, although it had dropped from August’s performance and did not meet analyst’s expectations. In addition, the report (which you can read here) shows that the overall economy grew again in September, marking the 17th consecutive month of economic growth. One area of concern on the report is the seemingly contracting backlog of orders, which may mean that customers are reducing the number of orders they put through.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 41.63 points today to 10,829.68, which is higher than it started the week. The Nasdaq climbed 2.13 points to 2,370.75. The S&P rose 5.04 points to 1,146.24.
European and Asian markets were mixed as China’s Purchasing Managers Index rose from 51.7 in August to 53.8 in September. France was the only nation in the Eurozone to show some growth. You can read the full global report released by the Institute for Supply Management here.
Stocks in the news: Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ: MSFT), Ford Motor Co (NYSE: F), Covance Inc (NYSE: CVD).
