Wall Street enjoys upbeat start to '09

NEW YORK - January 2, 2009 - Investors brushed off a weaker-than-expected report on manufacturing from the Institute for Supply Management. The ISM said its manufacturing activity index fell to the lowest level in 28 years in December.

But the market held to its recent pattern of taking bad economic news in stride, a pattern that began to emerge after it touched multiyear lows on Nov. 20.

Investors tend to look anywhere from three to nine months into the future when they make their moves.

At the bell, the Dow was up 258 points at the 9,034. Broader market indexes are up more than 3 percent.