NEW YORK — Wall Street began the third quarter with an erratic session and modest gain Tuesday after a mix of news made it clear the country is still deep in economic problems, but may have some positive trends — including some better-than-expected sales for General Motors.
Prices rose early in the session, then turned sharply lower for much of the day and then recovered in late afternoon. The uneven performance wasn’t surprising — some bargain hunting was to be expected after a dismal first half, and in particular, a dismal June.
The session brought more discouraging news for investors: Oil rose again toward record high levels, a report showed that U.S. manufacturers are still under duress and Ford said its June sales tumbled. This all raised the market’s fears that the economy — still reeling from soaring commodities prices and the lingering credit crisis — is not any closer to turning around.
Yet GM’s sales, while falling 18.2 percent during June, came in above analysts’ forecasts, retaining Detroit’s lead over Toyota and sending the automaker’s shares higher. GM’s news was in sharp contrast to the dismal results reported earlier by Ford, where a 27.9 percent plunge in sales for the month sent the company’s stock to its lowest point in decades.
And while the Institute for Supply Management had an overall disappointing report on manufacturing in June, it also reported strong exports for U.S. factories.
“This market is craving anything positive,” said Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer’s Investment Research. He said because the market has sold off so much in recent days, traders took GM’s weak but better-than-expected sales as a buying opportunity.
The Dow Jones industrial average, down more than 150 points earlier, rose 32.25, or 0.28 percent, to 11,382.26, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 4.91, or 0.38 percent, to 1,284.91. The Nasdaq composite gained 11.99, or 0.52 percent, to 2,304.97.
“A bounce like this wasn’t unexpected,” said Joseph V. Battipaglia, chief investment officer at Ryan Beck & Co. He said GM’s sales and a pullback in oil gave the Dow a lift.
Oil settled at a record $140.97 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange after rising above $143 earlier.
“We’ve been dancing to the tune of oil prices,” he said.
