US STOCKS-Wall St rises after factory, housing data

                                
   * U.S. manufacturing grows more than expected
                                
 * Ford posts profit, shares jump
                                
 * Financials rise despite CIT bankruptcy filing
                                
 * For up-to-the-minute market news, click [STXNEWS/US]
                                
 (Updates to morning trading)
                                
 By Rodrigo Campos
                                
 NEW YORK, Nov 2 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Monday after U.S. factory
activity grew more than forecast in October, alongside improved global
manufacturing, and pending home sales increased unexpectedly.
                                
 Ford Motor Co <F.N> shares jumped 8.8 percent to $7.61 after the carmaker
posted a surprise quarterly profit on cost cuts, improved credit results and
increased market share. For details, see [ID:nN02411585].
                                
 The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index rose to its
highest reading since April 2006. [ID:nN02309157]
                                
 The National Association of Realtors said its pending home sales index rose
to the highest level in nearly three years ahead of the expiration of a popular
tax credit for first-time buyers, and the Commerce Department reported
construction spending recorded its largest gain in a year. [ID:nN02432431]
[ID:nN30418368]
                                
 The Dow Jones home Construction Index <.DJUSHB> rose 1.5 percent.
                                
 "We needed to go north of 50 and we needed to stay there, but nothing I see
in this changes my mind that it is going to be a pretty sluggish recovery,"
said Jay Mueller, senior portfolio manager at Wells Capital Management in
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, referring to the manufacturing index, which rose to 55.7
in October.
                                
 "Pending home sales got a nice bump. The homebuyers credit obviously has
been a factor."
                                
 The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> gained 119.11 points, or 1.23
percent, to 9,831.84. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.SPX>  added 12.48
points, or 1.20 percent, to 1,048.67. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.IXIC> rose
16.76 points, or 0.82 percent, to 2,061.87.
                                
 Crude futures <CLc1> rose 1.2 percent and the Reuters/Jefferies CRB
commodities index <.CRB> added 0.7 percent as the economic data helped to allay
fears about the pace of the rebound in global demand for commodities. The S&P
materials index <.GSPM> rose 2.6 percent.
                                
 The KBW bank index <.BKX> jumped 2.5 percent despite the bankruptcy filing
of CIT Group Inc <CIT.N>, the U.S. lender to hundreds of thousands of small and
medium-sized businesses. For stories on CIT see [ID:nN01476782].
                                
 Earlier, data showed euro zone factory activity expanded for the first time
in 17 months and picked up in Britain and China, suggesting a global economic
recovery is underway. [ID:nSP62642].
                                
  (Additional reporting by John Parry; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)