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Dollar General ( DG ) rises on annual sales target growth

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Pinterest ( PINS ) rallies after JPMorgan upgrades stock

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US job openings rise to 7.391 million in April

By Saeed Azhar, Kanchana Chakravarty, Sukriti Gupta

NEW YORK, June 3 (Reuters) - U.S. stock indexes closed

higher on Tuesday, helped by gains in Nvidia ( NVDA ) and other

chipmakers, as investors awaited possible negotiations between

the United States and its trading partners for more clarity on

Washington's tariff plans.

President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping are set to

speak this week, the White House said on Monday, days after

Trump accused China of violating a Geneva agreement to roll back

tariffs and trade restrictions. Beijing said it would safeguard

its interests and that the accusation was groundless.

The Trump administration wants countries to provide their best

offer on trade negotiations by Wednesday as officials seek to

accelerate talks with multiple partners ahead of a self-imposed

deadline in just five weeks, according to a draft letter to

negotiating partners seen by Reuters.

"The most important thing for investors is that the

administration wasn't going to impose those

much-larger-than-expected tariffs and just leave them on, which

would have almost certainly led to a recession," said Chris

Zaccarelli, Chief Investment Officer at Northlight Asset

Management.

"The fact that the U.S. is actively engaged with so many

trading partners - China, the UK, Japan, the EU, etc. - has

investors feeling more optimistic that we will avoid a

recession."

In May, a softening of Trump's harsh trade stance allowed a

recovery in risky assets, with the benchmark S&P 500 and

the tech-heavy Nasdaq posting their biggest monthly

percentage gain since November 2023.

According to preliminary data, the S&P 500

gained 34.59 points, or 0.58%, to end at 5,970.53 points,

while the Nasdaq Composite gained 157.54 points, or

0.82%, to 19,400.15. The Dow Jones Industrial Average

rose 219.19 points, or 0.52%, to 42,524.67.

Information technology stocks rose, boosted by gains

in Nvidia ( NVDA ). Chipmaker Broadcom hit a fresh

record high after the company said it has begun to ship its

latest networking chip that aims to speed AI.

"Commentary that Trump and Xi will speak started getting

discussed yesterday and chips are likely a topic on the table,"

said Angelo Zino, a senior equity analyst at CFRA Research.

"Given Nivdia is essentially currently locked out of China,

any discussion is prone to favor Nivdia and chips rather than

hurt the story."

A U.S. Labor Department report showed job openings

increased in April, but layoffs picked up, signaling a slowing

labor market as tariffs impact the economic outlook.

Factory orders

dropped sharply in April, as the boost from front-loading of

purchases ahead of tariffs faded. Data from the Commerce

Department's Census Bureau showed a 3.7% fall, after an

unrevised 3.4% jump in March.

Monthly jobs data on Friday will offer more signs on how

trade uncertainty is affecting the world's biggest economy.

Central bank officials, including Fed Board Governor Lisa

Cook, Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee and Dallas President

Lorie Logan are due to speak through the day.

Shares of Kenvue ( KVUE ) dropped, leading declines on the

benchmark S&P index. The company, which makes consumer health

products, said at a Deutsche Bank conference that retailers in

the U.S. and China are destocking products due to uncertainty

over tariffs.

Dollar General ( DG ) surged as the discount retailer raised

its annual sales forecast after surpassing quarterly sales

expectations.

Shares of image-sharing platform Pinterest ( PINS ) rose after

JPMorgan raised the stock to overweight from neutral.

Shares of Reddit ( RDDT ) fell after the social media

platform was down for over 29,000 users on Tuesday, according to

outage tracking website Downdetector.com.