Dow Up 57 on Housing Data

Markets were up today on a surging food sector and good data from the manufacturing and housing industries, the Wall Street Journal reports. A key manufacturing activity index jumped from May to June, and an indicator of pending home sales also climbed for the fourth straight month. Amid the gains, the dollar weakened on strong economic recovery news from China. The Dow jumped 57.06 to 8,504.06, the S&P rose 4 to 923.32, and the Nasdaq tacked on 10.68 to end at 1,845.72. (More stock market stories.)