After falling sharply in early trading, stocks made a swift recovery and clawed their way by Wednesday afternoon, bolstered by gains in the prices of commodities like oil, copper and gold. Shares were mixed in early afternoon trading.

The rebound came as mutual funds and traders closed the books on a second straight quarter of gains. The Dow has gained some 1,300 points since the beginning of July, and the broader Standard &&8; Poor&S217;s 500-stock index is up some 15 percent. Those follow similarly strong gains in the spring.

At 1:50 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was up about 12 points or 0.1 percent, and the broader Standard &&8; Poor&S217;s 500-stock index was floating just above neutral. The Nasdaq, which had been down 1 percent, was up 0.4 percent.

Shares of technology and basic-materials companies, which would be among the earliest beneficiaries of an economic rebound, were tugging the markets higher.

The gains came despite some early worries about two lesser-known barometers of the economy, which came in weaker than expected. The figures spooked investors, causing some to reel in positions in more aggressive corners of the market, such as financial and industrial stocks.

A report on business activity in the Midwest dipped back into negative territory in September, defying forecasters&S217; hopes for more gains. And a report on private-sector job losses by ADP Employer Services said the economy shed 254,000 positions in September, more than expected, raising questions about whether the government&S217;s unemployment report on Friday would be weaker than expected.

Although economists predict the unemployment rate will hit 9.8 percent, they are also hoping that the pace of job losses will slow to 180,000.

A slump in the Institute for Supply Management&S217;s Chicago Purchasing Managers Index in September raised questions about the stability of the recovery.

&S220;These are some bad numbers,&S221; said Joseph Saluzzi, the co-head of trading at Themis Trading. &S220;A turn south in P.M.I. when you thought the economy was picking up? That&S217;s not good.&S221;

On Wall Street, where expectations can matter just as much as actual performance, the weaker figures have clashed with investors&S217; hopes for a sharp bounce off the bottom. Economic gauges like home sales, industrial output, manufacturing and trade revved back up this summer, raising hopes that the faltering economy was getting its stride back.

The day&S217;s numbers came on the heels of a drop in sales of previously owned homes and a decline in orders for manufactured goods like civilian aircraft and electronics, and offset enthusiasm from a better-than-expected report on the economy&S217;s overall output this spring.

The Commerce Department reported that the gross domestic product &<51; a billboard number that tallies the country&S217;s economic output &<51; shrank by an annual rate of 0 credit reports free.7 percent from April through June, a revision from earlier estimates of a 1 percent contraction.

It was a sizable improvement from the pace of decline in the first quarter, when the economy shrank at a rate of 6.4 percent as the financial crisis sent shock waves through the economy and caused businesses and consumers to virtually lock down spending and investment.

The numbers for the second quarter appeared to get a lift from the government&S217;s $787 billion stimulus package. Federal, state and local governments spent more, and business spending on equipment and software was better than first reported. Military spending rose, and American exports posted a narrower drop than imports, a balance that lifts the government&S217;s G.D.P. figures.

Economists were heartened by the final revisions after an earlier adjustment found no change in the pace of contraction in the second quarter.

&S220;I think it sets the stage for a stronger rebound in the third quarter,&S221; Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wells Fargo, said. &S220;The stimulus program may be flowing through a little bit quicker than people had thought. State and local governments were so hard-pressed, and when the stimulus package passed it provided some immediate relief.&S221;

Many expect the economy to bounce back sharply &<51; at least on paper &<51; in the third quarter because of stimulus programs like the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit and the $3 billion cash-for-clunkers program. Many economists anticipate that businesses will begin rebuilding their depleted inventories to make up for month after month of cost cutting.

But none of this suggests that businesses will be creating many jobs anytime soon.

The Federal Reserve chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, has said the economy will feel very weak for some time, and many economists say millions of people will remain out of work even as the economy posts gains. The national unemployment rate, already at 26-year highs, is expected to climb to 9.8 percent when the government reports its monthly job figures on Friday.

Personal spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy, fell at a rate of 0.9 percent in the second quarter as people worried about job losses and tried to rebuild their guttered finances. And even though consumers thronged car dealerships when offered government rebates of $4,500 and are buying homes with the tax credits, many economists believe this spending will end once the taxpayer-financed enticements dry up.

Stocks Recover From Early Losses