New York ? Wall Street slogged through an uneven session Thursday, finishing mixed as investors grappled with troubling consumer spending patterns, slower growth from the manufacturing sector and the latest news of Hurricane Katrina’s damage.

Traders work in the crude oil futures pit at the New York Mercantile Exchange. Gasoline supplies tightened Thursday in markets that depend on shipments from Gulf Coast refiners and pipelines, and motorists increasingly faced pump prices well in excess of a gallon.

Investors saw a disturbing trend in the Commerce Department’s consumer income and spending report. While consumer spending rose by a solid 1 percent in July, incomes rose just 0.3 percent. People spent more than they earned for just the second time in 46 years, and the nation’s savings rate fell to the lowest level ever recorded.

The nation’s manufacturing sector also saw an unexpected slowdown, with the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index falling to 53.6 in August from 56.6 the previous month.

Yet the losses were minimal, and volume was extremely heavy for a market still struggling through Wall Street’s summer doldrums – a sign that investors were still willing to buy stocks, even if they didn’t quite know where to put their money, as reflected in volatile prices.

“I think the market’s sending a very clear signal that it wants to move higher,” said Ken Tower, chief market strategist for Schwab’s CyberTrader. “What’s happening in front of us right now is discouraging, but the market’s telling us that these will be short-term disruptions.”