Dow Jones: 12,582.77 (+168.43) Nasdaq:2,816.03 (+42.51) S&P 500:1,339.67 (+19.03)

US STOCKS rose yesterday, sending benchmark indexes to their highest levels since May and the biggest weekly gains in two years, amid an unexpected pickup in American manufacturing growth.

Home Depot, 3M and Intel rallied at least 1.4 per cent, pacing gains among companies most-dependent on economic growth.

Apollo jumped 6.4 per cent as the operator of for-profit schools reported earnings that beat analysts’ estimates.

KB Home climbed 3.9 per cent as the home builder said it does not plan to issue equity.

Eastman Kodak tumbled 14 per cent after a ruling on patent claims against Apple and Research In Motion was postponed.

Ford Motor rose 1.7 per cent to $14.02 after the US automaker said June sales shot up 14 per cent.

General Motors was up 0.7 per cent at $30.58 after the company reported a weaker than expected gain in June US sales.

Oshkosh surged 13.9 per cent to $32.95 after Carl Icahn said he wanted to meet with the management of the specialty truck maker to discuss enhancing shareholder value. The billionaire investor owned about 9.5 per cent of Oshkosh shares as of June 20th.

The Standard and Poor’s 500 Index rose 1.4 per cent to 1,339.67 in New York. That extended its weekly rally to 5.6 per cent, the most for the gauge since July 2009.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 168.43 points, or 1.4 per cent, to 12,582.77.

The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 42.51 points, or 1.53 per cent, at 2,816.03.

“Clearly, today is good news with the manufacturing data,” said Michael Vogelzang, chief investment officer at Boston Advisors LLC.

“This is just a recovery off of a six-week very difficult period. People are putting the risk trade back on,” he said.

The S&P 500 fell 1.8 per cent in June, spurring the first quarterly loss in a year, on concern about Europe’s debt crisis and weaker than expected economic data.

Stocks extended gains after a report showed that US manufacturing unexpectedly expanded at a faster pace in June, a sign the industry is rebounding after shortages of parts and components from Japan slowed output. – (Bloomberg/Reuters)