*

Powell says Fed can afford to be a little more cautious

*

Salesforce ( CRM ) jumps after beating Q3 revenue estimates

*

November ADP private payrolls at 146,000 versus 150,000

estimate

(Updates to close)

By Caroline Valetkevitch

NEW YORK, Dec 4 (Reuters) -

All three major U.S. stock indexes scored record closing

highs on Wednesday as technology shares rallied after upbeat

results from Salesforce ( CRM ) and as comments by Federal Reserve Chair

Jerome Powell gave a late boost to the market.

The economy is stronger than it appeared in September when

the central bank began cutting interest rates, allowing

policymakers to potentially be a little more cautious in

reducing rates further, Powell said at a New York Times event.

Powell's comments overall along with a Beige Book report

added to the upbeat tone in the market, said Peter Cardillo,

chief market economist at Spartan Capital Securities in New

York.

The Fed said in a summary of surveys and interviews from

across the country known as the "Beige Book" that U.S. economic

activity has expanded slightly in most regions since early

October.

Powell "was very upbeat about economy, and he said we're

making progress on inflation... that's good news for stocks in

general," Cardillo said.

Investors expect a third consecutive interest-rate cut

at the central bank's Dec. 17-18 meeting.

Salesforce ( CRM ) jumped to an all-time intraday high

after the enterprise cloud company beat Street estimates for

third-quarter revenue and raised the lower end of its annual

revenue forecast.

Other cloud companies also advanced, and the S&P 500

technology index hit a record high.

Also in the tech space, Marvell Technology ( MRVL ) rallied

after the chipmaker forecast fourth-quarter revenue above

analyst estimates. Other chipmaker stocks rose as well.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500

gained 36.63 points, or 0.61%, to end at 6,086.51 points,

while the Nasdaq Composite gained 251.96 points, or

1.29%, to 19,732.87. The Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 310.72 points, or 0.70%, to 45,011.90.

Investors await monthly U.S. jobs data due on Friday and

jobless claims data on Thursday.

Earlier, U.S.

private payrolls

data showed a modest increase in November.

Separately, a survey from the Institute for Supply

Management showed U.S. services sector activity slowed in

November after big gains in recent months. The final reading of

the S&P services survey was revised lower to 56.1.

"Recent economic data has pretty much confirmed the Fed

will cut rates in December," said Sam Stovall, chief investment

strategist at CFRA Research in New York.

Friday's jobs report would be "like the granddaddy of

employment reports this week," he said.

(Additional reporting by Shashwat Chauhan and Purvi Agarwal in

Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and David Gregorio)