Stocks rose modestly yesterday on encouraging news about the manufacturing sector, ending a sharp four-day skid but failing to lift the Dow Jones Industrial average above the 10,000 level. For the week, the Dow fell 4.5 per cent, Nasdaq tumbled 5.8 per cent, and the S&P 500 slid 4.3 per cent. Year-to-date, the Dow is off 7.8 per cent, Nasdaq down 26.9 per cent and S&P 500 has dropped 14.1 per cent.

"The market just had a terrible month, and it's looking for anything positive," said Mr Barry Berman, head of Nasdaq trading at Robert W. Baird & Co. "We've had a lot of rallies and sell-offs and reversals of direction, but the trend has been down, and you just have to wait until the trend reverses." Stocks bolted higher following a couple of economic reports that indicated the recession-strapped manufacturing sector may be improving, but the rally later faltered. On Thursday, a steep sell-off pushed major market indexes to their lowest levels in nearly five months and put the Dow index below the 10,000 mark.