By Tanya Agrawal
(Reuters) - Wall Street was sharply higher on Wednesday, after three straight days of declines, as weak private sector hiring tempered expectations of a September interest rate hike.
The ADP National Employment Report showed private employers added 185,000 workers in July, the smallest growth since April and lower than the 215,000 increase forecast by economists surveyed by Reuters.
The weaker-than-expected data indicates that the economy lost some momentum at the start of the third quarter and reduces expectations of a strong reading in the government's payrolls report due Friday.
"I don't think the Fed is ready to raise rates and is looking for reasons to not raise," Stansberry trading analyst Jeff Clark said.
"The data supports the idea that the economy isn't overheating and so there isn't an overwhelmingly compelling reason for the Fed to raise rates in September."
In other economic data, trade deficit widened in June as solid domestic demand in the second quarter and a strong dollar sucked in imports of food and automobiles.
Some economists have said a bunch of tepid economic reports - released in the last few days - could prompt the U.S. Federal Reserve to wait until December to increase interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade.
The Fed has said it needs to see a sustained recovery before it raises rates for the first time in nearly a decade.
Stock market investors are keeping a close eye on economic data and the Fed's statements as a rate hike would increase cost of borrowing for companies, leading to lower profits.
They got some succor on Wednesday when Fed Governor Jerome Powell told CNBC that the central bank's policymakers had not yet decided whether to raise rates in September.
At 11:18 a.m. ET (1518 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was up 89.56 points, or 0.51 percent, at 17,640.25, the S&P 500 was up 17.16 points, or 0.82 percent, at 2,110.48 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 68.55 points, or 1.34 percent, at 5,174.10.
Lending support to the S&P and the Nasdaq Composite was a bounce in Apple shares, which dragged the market lower on Tuesday. The iPhone maker's shares were up 1.6 percent at $116.55.
Nine of the 10 major S&P sectors were higher, with the infotech index's 1.59 percent rise leading the advancers. The consumer discretionary index was the lone laggard as Walt Disney weighed.
Investors will assess earnings reports from a number of companies on Wednesday, including Tesla Motors, GoDaddy, Fitbit and CBS.
Dow component Walt Disney's shares fell 7.5 percent to $112.59 after the media company lowered profit guidance for its cable networks unit and reported quarterly revenue slightly below expectations.
Etsy slumped 21.2 percent to $15.15 a day after the crafts shopping website operator's quarterly loss doubled due to higher marketing expenses.
Handbag maker Kate Spade rose 8.5 percent to $22.46 after same-store sales beat estimates.
Time Warner slipped 4.1 percent to $84.10 after the company left its 2015 earnings forecast unchanged.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,975 to 927. On the Nasdaq, 1,939 issues rose and 716 fell.
The S&P 500 index showed 52 new 52-week highs and 10 new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 115 new highs and 58 new lows.
(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
