Wall Street rose after two days of losses on Wednesday after strong economic data boosted financial stocks and a surge in oil prices helped the energy sector. A report from the Institute of Supply Management showed activity in the US services sector saw a big rebound in September, after having slowed to more than a six-year low in the previous month.
The data raised the prospects of a US interest rate hike in the near term and comes before a carefully watched non-farm payrolls report on Friday. Oil prices rose above $52 - a level not seen since June - after data showed a bigger-than-expected draw in US crude inventories. "The markets are taking the economic news positively, but it is a double-edged sword in our opinion because a better economy means the Fed is going to finally start moving on rates," said Brad Lamensdorf, co-manager at Ranger Alternative Management in Connecticut.
A growing number of Fed officials have argued for a rate hike before the year ends as conditions in the labor market improve and inflation inches toward the central bank's 2 percent target. Traders priced in a near 65 percent chance of a rate hike in December after the ISM report, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.
The odds had slightly reduced earlier in the day after data showed that fewer-than-expected jobs were added in the private sector last month. The S&P financial sector rose 1.46 percent to more than a three-week high. Wells Fargo and Bank of America rose 2.2 percent and were the top influences on the S&P 500 index. At 12:24 pm ET (1624 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 125.12 points, or 0.69 percent, at 18,293.57.
The S&P 500 was up 11.27 points, or 0.52 percent, at 2,161.76 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 39.24 points, or 0.74 percent, at 5,328.90. Seven of the 11 major S&P 500 indexes were higher, with energy surging 1.7 percent. Exxon Mobil and Chevron were up about 0.8 percent. Chesapeake Energy rose 5.8 percent and was the biggest gainer on the S&P.