US stocks mixed ahead of Fed policy news

April 3, 2012 at 11:45a.m.

U.S. stocks were mixed early today as solid reports on auto sales and factory activity failed to lift them above multi-year highs in the previous session.

The Dow fell 28 points to 13,236. The Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 4 points to 1,415. The Nasdaq composite average rose 2 points to 3,121.

The S&P 500 closed Monday at 1,419, its highest close since May 19, 2008. The Dow closed at 13,264, its highest since the last day of 2007.

The gains came after a strong survey of manufacturing executives by the trade group Institute for Supply Management.

The government’s final factory orders report failed to ignite the same enthusiasm. Orders to factories rebounded by a solid 1.3 percent in February as businesses made more long-term investments, the Commerce Department said.

The news bolstered earlier signals that U.S. consumers are feeling confident enough in the economy to buy big-ticket items like cars after years of putting off major purchases.

Chrysler said before the market opened that sales of its vehicles spiked by one-third last month, making March its best month in four years. Sales were helped by the introduction of small cars from the company’s Fiat brand.

Ford chimed in later with a 5 percent sales increase, also helped by strong demand for its smaller models. General Motors reported a 12 percent sales gain.