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Indexes: Dow down 0.45%, S&P 500 up 0.33%, Nasdaq up 0.98%

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Alphabet gains after court ruling on Chrome browser

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Macy's soars after annual forecast hike

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July job openings below estimates

(Updates after JOLTS data)

By Purvi Agarwal and Ragini Mathur

Sept 3 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq gained on

Wednesday after a favorable antitrust ruling for Alphabet

boosted the Google parent's shares, while investors parsed a

softer-than-expected job openings report for July.

Alphabet jumped 8.3% to hit an intraday record

high after a Washington judge ruled late on Tuesday Google will

not have to sell its Chrome browser, but will have to share data

with rivals.

Apple ( AAPL ) also gained 8.4% as the ruling also allowed

Google to keep making lucrative payments to the iPhone maker.

"It's helping tech stocks in general... we are not seeing

the injection of tremendous confusion if Alphabet were required

to sell off its browser or make some changes with its

arrangement with Apple ( AAPL )," said Sam Stovall, chief investment

officer at CFRA Research.

"That's allowing investors to breathe a sigh of relief."

The communication services index gained 3.3% to

hit a record high, and tech stocks gained 0.6%.

Strengthening bets of an imminent interest-rate cut, a

Labor Department report showed job openings fell to 7.181

million in July, compared with 7.37 million estimated by

economists polled by Reuters.

Traders are now pricing in a 95.6% chance of a September

rate cut, per CME Group's FedWatch tool, compared with nearly

92% before the data.

This is the first in a series of jobs indicators expected

this week that will culminate in Friday's highly anticipated

nonfarm payrolls numbers.

Energy stocks fell 2%, tracking lower oil prices.

The prospect of cheaper fuel boosted the passenger airlines

index up 1.7%.

At 10:06 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

fell 203.83 points, or 0.45%, to 45,091.98, the S&P 500

gained 21.34 points, or 0.33%, to 6,436.88 and the Nasdaq

Composite gained 208.40 points, or 0.98%, to 21,488.03.

Declines in industrial stocks weighed on the Dow.

Wall Street closed sharply lower on Tuesday, after a court

ruling last week deemed most of U.S. President Donald Trump's

tariffs illegal, reviving some fiscal concerns and sparking a

sell-off in U.S. Treasuries.

Yields on the 30-year note touched 5% on

Wednesday for the first time since July 18, and was last at

4.912%.

September has been historically dour for U.S. equities,

with the index losing 1.5% in the month on average since the

turn of the century, according to data compiled by LSEG.

HSBC raised its 2025 year-end target for the S&P 500 to

6,500 from 6,400.

Department store operator Macy's soared 19.5% after

raising its annual forecasts, but discount retailer Dollar Tree

dropped 8.3% despite a forecast hike, becoming the

biggest decliner on the S&P 500.

St. Louis Fed President Alberto Musalem said monetary policy

is in the right place, without clarifying whether he supports an

interest rate cut this month. Governor Christopher Waller

repeated his rate-cut call.

The Fed's Neel Kashkari is also scheduled to deliver a

speech on the day.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.21-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and by a 1.3-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 14 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows while

the Nasdaq Composite recorded 58 new highs and 50 new lows.

(Reporting by Purvi Agarwal and Ragini Mathur in Bengaluru;

Editing by Pooja Desai and Devika Syamnath)