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Slew of Fed officials set to speak

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Novavax ( NVAX ) surges on revoking going concern doubts, Sanofi

deal

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SoundHound gains after Q1 revenue beat

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Indexes up: Dow 0.42%, S&P 0.40%, Nasdaq 0.41%

(Updated at 09:38 a.m. ET/ 1338 GMT)

By Sruthi Shankar and Shristi Achar A

May 10 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose on Friday, as

investors eagerly awaited comments from Federal Reserve

officials to get more clarity on the U.S. monetary policy path,

after economic data this week supported bets of interest rate

cuts.

Wall Street indexes were inching closer to record highs

following a selloff last month, as a slew of economic data

pointed to a cooling U.S. labor market, raising expectations

that the Fed will cut borrowing costs more than once this year.

A much better-than-expected earnings season has also helped

put the benchmark S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq

Composite on track for their third consecutive week of

gains.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up for the eight

straight session, its longest daily winning run since December,

and set for a fourth week of gains.

The blue-chip index was also closing in on the 40,000

threshold for the first time.

"This is the classic point of bad news is good news because

the employment data over the last two weeks has been what the

Fed has finally been looking for," said Hugh Anderson, managing

director at HighTower Advisors.

"Of course it isn't good for the job seeker, but it creates

an optimistic environment for the market because now they're

looking for their interest rate cuts."

Traders are currently pricing in 45 basis points of rate

cuts by the end of 2024, according to LSEG's rate probabilities

tool, with the first cut of 25 bps seen in September.

While most Fed policymakers have reiterated that the next

policy move will be a rate cut, doubt still remains about when

the easing will begin.

There is "considerable" uncertainty about where U.S.

inflation will head in coming months, San Francisco Fed

President Mary Daly said on Thursday.

Speeches from a host of Fed policymakers - Minneapolis

President Neel Kashkari, Dallas President Lorie Logan and Vice

Chair for Supervision Michael Barr - during the day, could offer

more clues on the rate path.

Investors will also closely monitor the University of

Michigan's preliminary survey of consumer sentiment for May,

which is due at 10 a.m. ET.

Of the 11 S&P 500 sectors, information technology

led gains with a 1% advance.

At 09:37 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 165.26 points, or 0.42%, to 39,553.02, the S&P 500

gained 20.84 points, or 0.40%, to 5,234.92 and the Nasdaq

Composite gained 67.49 points, or 0.41%, to 16,413.76.

Nvidia ( NVDA ) gained 2% in early trading after Taiwan

Semiconductor Manufacturing Co ( TSM ), the world's largest

chipmaker and a major supplier to Nvidia ( NVDA ), reported a near 60%

jump in April sales.

Novavax ( NVAX ) shares more than doubled in value after the

vaccine maker removed doubts about its ability to remain in

business and struck a licensing deal worth up to $1.2 billion

with Sanofi for COVID-19 vaccines.

SoundHound AI ( SOUN ) jumped 19.5% after its first-quarter

revenue beat market estimates.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 2.37-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and by a 1.41-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 42 new 52-week highs and no new lows,

while the Nasdaq recorded 104 new highs and 17 new lows.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru;

Editing by Shounak Dasgupta and Shinjini Ganguli)