NEW YORK: Wall Street stocks rose early Wednesday, lifting major indices further into record territory following lackluster jobs data that raised expectations of US monetary easing.
Private sector employment grew by 146,000 jobs last month, payroll firm ADP said – lower than the 170,000 figure that analysts expected.
Futures markets now have the odds at more than 75 percent that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates later this month.
About 35 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.5 percent at 44,912.67.
US stocks mostly up after higher Black Friday sales
The broad-based S&P 500 gained 0.3 percent to 6,067.04, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index jumped 0.7 percent to 19,615.14.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq finished at all-time highs on Tuesday, the latest in a string of records since the US presidential election last month.
Among individual companies, Salesforce jumped 8.7 percent as the technology company lifted its earnings forecast after reporting higher profits on an 8.3 percent increase in revenues.
General Motors fell 0.8 percent as it announced a more than $5 billion hit in earnings due to the restructuring of its China venture.
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