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March private payrolls up 184,000 vs est. of 148,000

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Intel ( INTC ) down after revealing deepening losses at chip-making

unit

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Ulta Beauty ( ULTA ) drops as CEO warns of sluggish Q1 demand

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Indexes up: Dow 0.06%, S&P 0.26%, Nasdaq 0.35%

(Updated at 12:14 p.m. ET/ 1614 GMT)

By Sruthi Shankar and Shashwat Chauhan

April 3 (Reuters) - Wall Street's main indexes advanced

on Wednesday after softer-than-expected services sector data

offered relief to investors worried about the Federal Reserve

taking a cautious approach to monetary easing due to resilience

in the U.S. economy.

A survey from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM)

showed U.S. services industry growth slowed further in March,

while a measure of input prices paid by businesses dropped to a

four-year low, which bodes well for the inflation outlook.

"It wasn't quite as hot as we had anticipated and because it

is services data, we might think that's a good thing," said Kim

Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners in

Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated that the U.S.

central bank has time to deliberate over its first interest rate

cut, widely expected in June, given the strength of the economy

and recent high inflation readings.

"The market has come around to the Fed's expectation for

three rate cuts this year, but if we continue to get strong

labor market data, it's going to push them further towards fewer

than three cuts this year," said Ross Mayfield, investment

strategy analyst at Baird.

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said the Fed should not

cut its benchmark interest rate until the end of this year, as

he maintained his view that the U.S. central bank should reduce

borrowing costs only once over the course of 2024.

Traders are pricing in a 57% chance the Fed will cut

interest rates by 25 basis points in June, according to

CMEGroup's FedWatch tool, down from about 64% a week ago.

Earlier in the day, data showed private payrolls rose by

184,000 jobs in March, beating economists' forecast of an

increase of 148,000.

The benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury yield edged

higher to 4.3792%, having hit a fresh high for the year earlier

in the day.

Focus is also on the Labor Department's jobs report on

Friday that is expected to show U.S. nonfarm payrolls increased

by 200,000 jobs in March, following 275,000 job additions in

February.

At 12:14 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

was up 23.38 points, or 0.06%, at 39,193.62, the S&P 500

was up 13.64 points, or 0.26%, at 5,219.45, and the Nasdaq

Composite was up 56.73 points, or 0.35%, at 16,297.17.

Eight of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors were trading higher,

with industrials leading gains, up 0.6%.

Most megacap growth stocks advanced, with Apple ( AAPL ),

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) and Meta Platforms ( META ) up between 0.2%

and 1.6%.

Ulta Beauty ( ULTA ) tumbled 14.4% after the beauty retailer

gave downbeat forecast at an industry conference. Shares of

e.l.f. Beauty fell 9.7%, while Coty ( COTY ) dropped

4.5%.

Intel ( INTC ) fell 7.2% after the chipmaker disclosed $7

billion in operating losses for its foundry business in 2023,

steeper than the $5.2 billion reported the year before.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.36-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and by a 1.13-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 31 new 52-week highs and 3 new lows,

while the Nasdaq recorded 65 new highs and 92 new lows.