Trading Choppy After Ford Surprise

A surprise third-quarter profit from Ford Motor got the ball rolling infor Wall Street Monday, but the morning's gains evaporated by the afternoon despite data on manufacturing and housing that came in ahead of expectations.

The Cash For Clunkers program shifted future demand for new cars to the summer, and helped Ford Motor ( F - news - people ) post a billion dollar profit for the July-September period. While the earnings are likely to be fleeting, the automaker also said it remains on pace to turn solidly profitable in 2011, a claim that Detroit rivals Chrysler and GM would be hard-pressed to match after filing for bankruptcy earlier this year.

Shares of Ford were up 7%, but elsewhere trading was rockier, even after the Institute for Supply Management's national manufacturing survey showed activity picked up solidly in October. Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors said September's pending home sales were up 6.1% from the month before, as first-time buyers rush to take advantage of a tax credit before it expires at the end of November.

After impressive morning gains the major averages cratered after noon, with the Dow Jones industrial average sliding from a triple-digit gain into negative territory before rebounding to a gain of just 2 poins at 9,714. The S&P 500 was down 5 points at 1,032, and the Nasdaq was 11 points lower at 2,034.

CIT Group ( CIT - news - people ) was in the headlines again, after filing for a prepackaged bankruptcy over the weekend. The lender is likely to produce the first realized loss for taxpayers under the government's Troubled Asset Relief Program, which propped up the firm with $2.3 billion in return for preferred shares.