Stocks eke out gains as manufacturing improves

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks are edging higher on Wall Street, closing out a volatile week, as an upturn in manufacturing outweighed the threat of looming cuts to government spending.

The Dow Jones industrial average closed up 35 points at 14,089 Friday, overcoming an early loss of 116 points.

Big swings have come back to the stock market over the past week following relatively calm trading in January and most of February. The automatic budget cuts, worries over how soon the Fed may wind down its economic stimulus and Italy's inconclusive elections have made trading more volatile.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose three to 1,518. The Nasdaq rose nine to 3,169.

Four stocks rose for every three that fell on the New York Stock Exchange. Trading volume was average, 3.7 billion shares.