North American stocks got off to a positive start on the first day of the second quarter, spurred on by some good economic news from the U.S.

At mid-day, the S&P/TSX composite index was up 74.75 points or 0.87% to 8660.68,while the TSX Venture exchange had gained 8.77 points or 0.47% to 1882.35.

On Bay Street all sectors, except one, were on the positive side, with gold and information technology leading the way at 1.56% and 1.57%, respectively. Only utilities were on the decline. Most active stock this morning was Wheaton River Minerals Ltd., involved in a deal with Iamgold Corp. yesterday to create the world’s eighth-largest gold miner. Wheaton stock was off 11¢ on 17.5 million shares trading hands.

In New York, the Dow was up 28.45 points or 0.27% to 10386.15 while the S&P 500 composite had jumped 6.72 points or 0.6% to 1132.93.

On Wall Street, investors welcomed data showing factories are getting busier and jobless claims are waning while inflation remains low. U.S. factories were busier than expected in March, according to a survey by the Institute for Supply Management, whose manufacturing index rose to 62.5 in March from February’s 61.4.

Many investors paid particular attention to the ISM’s monthly employment index, which climbed to 57.0 versus February’s 56.3, its highest level since December 1987. That bodes well for the government’s monthly employment report to be released Friday, where Wall Street is expecting to see 103,000 new jobs created in March.

The upbeat tone on jobs was backed up earlier government data showing that 342,000 Americans made their first claims for unemployment benefits last week, down from a revised 345,000 the week before.

The Producer Price Index, which measures prices paid to farms, factories and refineries, also rose just 0.1% in February, showing that inflation is not yet threatening the U.S. economy’s growth.