Wall Street rises as Greece worries fade, data impresses

(Reuters) - U.S. stocks rose in late morning trading on Wednesday on growing hopes that Greece would avert a default and as strong domestic data suggested the U.S. economic recovery was on track.

Greece's international creditors signaled they were ready to compromise to avert a debt default, with the country's prime minister expected to hear the terms of the plan later on Wednesday.

"Greece is driving the market sentiment today," said Marshall Gause, chief executive officer of Geneva Fund Partners in Denver, Colorado.

"As the risk around Greece is starting to significantly reduce, investors are putting back money into U.S. equities."

The market also got a boost from data that showed U.S. trade deficit narrowed in April after surging in March, while companies picked up their hiring in May after a pullback the previous month.

U.S. private employers added a higher-than-expected 201,000 jobs last month, a ADP report showed. The numbers are a precursor to the U.S. Labor Department's non-farm payrolls report on Friday, which includes both public and private-sector employment numbers.

Investors have been keeping a keen eye on economic data for clues on the timing of a rate hike by the U.S. Federal Reserve - the first in nearly a decade.

At 11:29 a.m. ET the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> was up 124.79 points, or 0.69 percent, at 18,136.73, the S&P 500 <.SPX> was up 8.88 points, or 0.42 percent, at 2,118.48 and the Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> was up 30.40 points, or 0.6 percent, at 5,106.92.

Eight of the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with the teleservices sector's <.SPLRCT> 0.91 percent rise leading the gains.

The utilities index <.SPLRCU> fell 1.3 percent after U.S. benchmark Treasury debt yields rose to three-week highs on the strong employment report. Utilities and other dividend paying shares tend to compete with bonds as investments.

Synchronoss Technologies' shares jumped 18 percent to $50.18 after the Wall Street Journal reported that the software maker was working on a possible sale that could be valued at more than $2 billion.

Vera Bradley slumped 10.2 percent to a record low of $12.70 after the handbag maker posted a quarterly loss and said it was not attracting enough new customers.

Wendy's rose as much as 5.5 percent to a more than 7-year high of $11.71 after the hamburger chain said it would buy back $1.4 billion of shares, including some from Nelson Peltz's Trian Group, its largest shareholder.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 1,679 to 1,199, for a 1.40-to-1 ratio on the upside. On the Nasdaq, 1,919 issues rose and 691 fell for a 2.78-to-1 ratio favoring advancers.

The S&P 500 index showed nine new 52-week highs and four new lows while the Nasdaq recorded 117 new highs and 17 new lows.

(Editing by Ted Kerr and Savio D'Souza)

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