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US STOCKS-Wall St swings higher after soft services sector data
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US STOCKS-Wall St swings higher after soft services sector data
Apr 3, 2024 8:13 AM

(For a Reuters live blog on U.S., UK and European stock

markets, click or type LIVE/ in a news window)

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

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Powell scheduled to speak at 1210 ET (1610 GMT)

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

unit

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Indexes up: Dow 0.19%, S&P 0.34%, Nasdaq 0.41%

(Updated at 10:29 a.m. ET)

By Sruthi Shankar and Shashwat Chauhan

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

higher 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.

A survey from the Institute for Supply Management (ISM)

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

while a measure of prices paid by businesses for inputs 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.

Futures had come under pressure after data earlier showed

private payrolls rose by 184,000 jobs in March, beating

economists' forecast of an increase of 148,000.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq and the blue-chip Dow closed at

two-week lows on Tuesday as Treasury yields rose to multi-month

highs after solid manufacturing activity and factory orders data

raised doubts over the prospect of three rate cuts the Fed had

forecast for 2024.

"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.

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

higher to 4.4033%, having hit a fresh high for the year earlier

in the day.

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.

The Fed should not cut its benchmark interest rate until the

end of this year, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said, as

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

borrowing costs only once over the course of 2024.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell is set to speak at 1210 ET (1610

GMT).

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 10:29 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average

was up 75.08 points, or 0.19%, at 39,245.32, the S&P 500

was up 17.61 points, or 0.34%, at 5,223.42, and the Nasdaq

Composite was up 66.85 points, or 0.41%, at 16,307.30.

Among individual stocks, Ulta Beauty ( ULTA ) tumbled 13.4%

after the beauty retailer gave downbeat forecast at an industry

conference. Shares of e.l.f. Beauty fell 8.3%, while

Coty ( COTY ) dropped 3.8%.

Intel ( INTC ) fell 6.4% 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 1.24-to-1 ratio

on the NYSE and 1.05-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 28 new 52-week highs and three new

lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 45 new highs and 77 new lows.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru;

Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Shinjini Ganguli)

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