Investing.com - Wall Street rose in holiday-thinned trade as falling bond yields and disappointing payrolls numbers supported expectations that the Federal Reserve will cut rates at its next policy meeting.
The S&P 500 was up 7 points, or 0.3%, by 9:54 AM ET (13:54 GMT). The Dow gained 56 points, or 0.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 18 points, or 0.2%.
The benchmark U.S. 10-Year Treasury yields fell to their lowest level since November 2016, while the ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) payrolls report, a precursor to Friday’s more comprehensive nonfarm jobs data, showed that U.S. private employers added 102,000 jobs in June, which was below economists' expectations.
Investors remain optimistic that the central bank will cut rates, as slowing global growth fueled by the trade war and the nomination of IMF chief Christine Lagarde to head the European Central Bank have increased expectations that the Fed will ease its monetary policy.
Trading is expected to be thin as U.S. markets close at 1:00 PM ET (16:00 GMT) and remain closed for Independence Day on Thursday.
Technology stocks edged higher, with Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) up 0.5%, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) rising 0.2% and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) surging 5.5% after it delivered more vehicles in the second quarter than expected.
Elsewhere, Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD) fell 0.8%, while JPMorgan (NYSE:JPM) inched down 0.2% and Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) was down 0.2%.
In commodities, crude oil gained 1.4% to $56.99 a barrel. Gold futures rose 0.6% to $1,416.95 a troy ounce, while the U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, was flat at 96.248.