U.S. stocks trimmed gains but
remained higher on Thursday as investors turned their focus to the monthly
employment data on Friday, after better-than-expected private sector hiring
pointed to strength in the labor market.
The ADP private sector employment
report showed that 253,000 jobs were added in May, well above the 185,000 jobs
estimated by economists polled by Reuters.
The report acts as a precursor to
the much-awaited nonfarm payrolls data, due on Friday, that includes hiring in
both public and private sectors.
"The ADP numbers were good
today and often times, but not always, they are a good indication of the
monthly jobs data," said Randy Frederick, vice president of trading and
derivatives for Charles Schwab in Austin, Texas.
The market is expected to trade
mostly sideways for the rest of the day as investors await Friday's data,
Frederick added.
San Francisco Federal Reserve
Bank President John Williams said on Wednesday he sees a total of three
interest rate increases for this year as his baseline scenario, but views four
hikes as also being appropriate if the U.S. economy gets an unexpected boost.
Fed Governor Jerome Powell, an
influential policymaker, told CNBC that he expects three rate hikes this year.
Forecasts from Fed officials
suggest that a median of two more hikes are planned before the end of the year.
Traders priced in a 96 percent
chance of a rate hike in the upcoming Fed meeting on June 14, and a 50 percent
chance of a hike before the end of 2017, according to CME Group's FedWatch
tool.
At 10:47 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones
Industrial Average was up 17.86 points, or 0.09 percent, at 21,026.51,
the S&P 500 was up 3.4 points, or 0.14 percent, at 2,415.2.
The Nasdaq Composite was up
8.89 points, or 0.14 percent, at 6,207.40.
Seven of the 11 major S&P 500
sectors were higher, with the health .SPXHC and materials sectors .SPLRCM
leading the gainers.
Deere's shares were up 2.5
percent at $125.48 after the farm and construction major said it would buy
privately held German road construction company Wirtgen Group for $5.2 billion,
including debt.
Hewlett Packard Enterprise fell
5.6 percent to $17.76 after the company reported a steep fall in its quarterly
revenue.
Palo Alto Networks jumped as much
as 18 percent to a more than four-month high of $139.95 after the cybersecurity
company's forecast topped expectations.
Advancing issues outnumbered
decliners on the NYSE by 2,019 to 719. On the Nasdaq, 1,681 issues rose and 934
fell.
The S&P 500 index showed 28
new 52-week highs and 11 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 82 new highs and
70 new lows.