By Kate Gibson, MarketWatch

U.S. stocks gained ground Tuesday after a report showed U.S. manufacturing expanded at a more rapid pace for April.

The Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index rose to 54.8% last month from 53.4% in March. Economists surveyed by MarketWatch had forecast the index would fall to 53.3%.

After holding near unchanged ahead of the report, stock indexes pulled higher.

"Today's figure was definitely a surprise and stocks are obviously behaving as such," emailed Peter Boockvar, equity strategist at Miller Tabak & Co.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJI) rose 66.37 points, or 0.5%, to 13,280.

The S&P 500 (SPX) climbed 10.68 points, or 0.8%, to 1,408.59, with energy the strongest performer of its 10 industry sectors.

Sears Holding Corp. (SHLD) rallied 13% after the retailer said it expects to report a first-quarter operating profit later this month.

The Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) rose 23.51 points, or 0.8%, to 3,069.87.

For every stock falling more than three gained on the New York Stock Exchange, where 142 million shares traded as of 10:20 a.m. Eastern.