NEW YORK (AP) — An early rally in stocks lost steam as a retreat in financial shares pulled the broader market lower.

Stocks jumped early Monday after strong reports on manufacturing and housing but were fluctuating by the afternoon. The Dow Jones industrial average was up about 20 points, after rising as much as 146 points in morning trading.

The market has been volatile in recent days as investors try to determine whether the bets they've been placing on a rebound in the economy over the past several months are still sound.

Investors are starting to worry that the pace of recovery they have been counting on will be hard to maintain. The government reported 3.5 percent growth in third-quarter GDP last week but much of that growth came from government spending. Likewise many companies are reporting stronger than expected earnings, but many of those gains came from cost-cutting instead of higher sales.

The seesaw trade on Monday came after the Institute for Supply Management reported that manufacturing activity grew in October at the fastest pace since April 2006. The ISM index clocked in at 55.7, much better than the 53 economists had expected. It was the third month in a row the index came in above 50, which indicates growth.

Meanwhile, the National Association of Realtors said pending home sales increased for the eighth straight month in September. The index rose 6.1 percent from August to 110.1. It was the highest reading since December 2006 and more than 21 percent above a year ago. Economists had expected the index would be level at 103.8.

Stocks had posted their biggest losses in four months on Friday after rising sharply a day earlier on the stronger-than-expected GDP figures. Friday's losses helped send the Standard & Poor's 500 index into the red for October, breaking a seven-month streak of gains.

Even with the S&P 500's 2 percent loss in October, the index is still up 53.2 percent since hitting a 12-year low in March.

"The question is, is the trend changing?" said Jim Dunigan, managing executive of investments at PNC Wealth Management. "We've been in an up trend here."

In the final hour of trading, the Dow rose 19.65, or 0.2 percent, to 9,732.38. The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell 0.87, or 0.1 percent, at 1,035.32, and the Nasdaq composite index fell 5.81, or 0.3 percent, to 2,039.30.

Three stocks fell for every two that rose on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 1.1 billion shares, compared with 1 billion shares at the same time on Friday.

Trading is likely to be volatile again this week as investors sift through a flood of economic data, including the government's monthly employment report on Friday. The Federal Reserve will also weigh in on the economy after the conclusion of a two-day policy meeting on Wednesday.

Bond prices fell. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 3.42 percent from 3.39 percent late Friday.

The dollar reversed an early slide and moved slightly higher against other major currencies. Oil rose $1.13 to settle at $78.13, while gold rose on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other trading, the Russell 2000 index of smaller companies fell 5.22, or 1 percent, to 557.55.