Stock Market Gains 8.97: Wall Street Spurts Ahead 8.97 Points
NEW YORK, March 1C (At*)ÛÓReports of a jump in housing starts and other gains in business activity perked up a sluggish stock market today, pushing prices higher in increased trading.</br></br>The Dow Jones average of 30 industrial stocks climbed 8.07 to 983.47, bouncing bnev from a 28.81-point slide over the two previous sessions.</br></br>Nationwide turnover in NYSE-listed slocks, including trades in those issues on regional exchanges and in</br></br>Activity had been quiet and indecisive until midafternoon, when the Commerce Department issued a flurry of economic reports.</br></br>One showed a 27 per cent jump in housing starts in February from the month beforeÛÓa figure that was ÛÏmuch better than expected,Û in the words of Eldon A. Grimm at Birr, Wilson & Co.