By Shristi Achar A and Amruta Khandekar
Wall Street's main indexes rose in early trade on Tuesday after a drop in the latest monthly job openings added to hopes of a pause in interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve.
The Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS), showed the number of job openings stood at 8.827 million in July, falling for the third straight month and signaling easing labor market pressures. Economists polled by Reuters had expected job openings of 9.465 million.
Investors also parsed another report from the Conference Board that showed consumer confidence in the United States fell to 106.1 in August, compared with expectations of 116.
"In both the JOLTS and the consumer confidence number, you're seeing exactly what you'd want to see, a gradual decrease," said Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B Riley Wealth.
"All of those things paint a picture for the potential of a soft landing."
Multiple sets of economic data are scheduled to be released this week, including the personal consumption expenditures price index and non-farm payrolls.
Lack of hawkish surprises in Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's comments at the Jackson Hole symposium last week had cushioned stocks on Monday, with the focus now on the economic data to gauge how long the central bank could keep interest rates elevated.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note eased to 4.14%, supporting most growth stocks, with Amazon, Tesla and Nvidia up between 0.8% and 2.6%.
Alphabet added 2.2% after the Google-parent unveiled a swath of fresh artificial-intelligence technology and partnerships.
Catalent climbed 7% after the contract drugmaker reached a settlement with activist investor Elliott Investment Management to conduct a review. The S&P 500 health sector housing the stock was up 0.3%.
At 10:19 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 133.71 points, or 0.39%, at 34,693.69, the S&P 500 was up 29.35 points, or 0.66%, at 4,462.66, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 133.76 points, or 0.98%, at 13,838.89.
Shares of Salesforce slipped 1% after J.P.Morgan removed the business software maker from its U.S. analyst focus list.
Verizon and AT&T rose about 3% each after Citi upgraded the telecom companies to "buy" from "neutral".
U.S.-listed shares of PDD Holdings rose 18.6% after the e-commerce firm beat second-quarter revenue estimates.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners for a 2.65-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 2.03-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded nine new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 28 new highs and 61 new lows.
(Reporting by Shristi Achar A in Bengaluru; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta)
