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 But trading volume continued to be light as investors took a
wait-and-see approach ahead of the European Central Bank policy
meeting on Thursday and the U.S. government's May nonfarm payrolls
report on Friday.
"Today's ADP (employment) figures were not enough to provide a
direction for Friday's numbers," said Tim Ghriskey, chief investment
officer at Solaris Group in Bedford Hills, New York.
"We need a better indication of how the economy is really doing for
the market to show a notable move."
The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing index showed
that growth in the U.S. services sector accelerated more than
expected in May and rose at the fastest pace in nine months. The ADP
National Employment Report showed that fewer private-sector jobs
were added in May than had been anticipated.
Among the day's biggest gainers were U.S. solar companies after the
United States slapped new import duties on solar panels and other
related products from China in a preliminary determination. First
Solar <FSLR.O> rose 3.9 percent to $65.39.
Semiconductor stocks also ranked among the market's leaders with
Skyworks Solutions <SWKS.O> up 2.4 percent at $46.76 and Broadcom
Corp <BRCM.O> up 3.3 percent at $37.07.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 15.19 points or 0.09
percent, to 16,737.53, the S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 3.64 points or 0.19
percent, to 1,927.88 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 17.56
points or 0.41 percent, to 4,251.64.
The CBOE Volatility Index <.VIX> jumped 1.8 percent to 12.08, its
third straight daily advance. But the index, considered the market's
fear gauge, was still well below the historical average of 20, a
trend that some interpret as a sign that investors have become
complacent.
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In company news, Protective Life <PL.N> surged 18.1 percent to
$69.36 in heavy trading after Japan's Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co
<8750.T> agreed to buy the company for $5.7 billion.
The stock of Tibco Software Inc <TIBX.O> was one of the Nasdaq's
most active, slumping 5.4 percent to $19.66 a day after the company
gave a second-quarter outlook sharply below expectations.
NQ Mobile Inc <NQ.N> soared 30.9 percent to $9.99, its biggest
one-day advance ever, rising on heavy volume after the Chinese
mobile security software maker said a special committee had found no
evidence of fraud, following an accusation made by short-seller
Muddy Waters Research Group.
Trading volume was light at around 5 billion shares on U.S.
exchanges, below last month's average of 5.75 billion, according to
data from BATS Global Markets.
(Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)
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