NEW YORK — Stronger reports on jobs and the nation’s service industries lifted stocks Monday and pushed the Dow Jones industrial average toward the 11,000 mark.
The Dow rose 46 points and moved closer to crossing 11,000 for the first time in 18 months.
Growing confidence about the economy hurt demand for Treasurys and drove up interest rates. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note briefly rose to 4 percent, its highest level since June.
The government’s report Friday that the economy posted its biggest job gain in three years in March raised expectations that a recovery is taking hold. Reports Monday of strong improvements in demand at service businesses and in the housing market added to an optimistic mood among traders.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group, said its index of activity in the nation’s service industries rose in March, beating forecasts.
Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors said the number of people who agreed to buy a previously occupied home rose 8.2 percent in February from January.
The reports added to a sense among many analysts that the economy is making strides. Major stock indexes have been climbing for 13 months with little interruption. Since February, stocks have drawn most of their gains from steady advances rather than the big bursts higher that occurred last year.
“The investors that have been buying over the past year are getting rewarded for their expectations that the economy is going to make a turn,” said Alan Lancz, money manager at Alan B. Lancz & Associates in Toledo, Ohio.
The Dow rose 46.48, or 0.4 percent, to 10,973.55, its highest close in 18 months. The Dow came within 12 points of 11,000. It hasn’t traded above that level since Sept. 29, 2008.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500 index rose 9.34, or 0.8 percent, to 1,187.44. It also stands at an 18-month high.
The technology-dominated Nasdaq composite rose 26.95, or 1.1 percent, to 2,429.53. The Nasdaq is at its best level since Aug. 15, 2008.
John Apruzzese, partner and equity-portfolio manager at Evercore Wealth Management in New York, said the market’s more subdued climb in the past two months could eventually bring some investors to put more money in stocks.
“The lower volatility is better. I think it makes the markets appear a little more sane,” he said. “That’s a trend that could go on for a while.”
The dollar fell against other major currencies, and gold rose.
