US open: Stocks nudge higher as investors digest US jobs report

US stocks nudged a little higher at the open on Thursday as investors overlooked ongoing uncertainty over Greece and a slightly-softer-than-expected US jobs report.

At 1455 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.2% at 17,799, the S&P 500 was 0.2% higher at 2,082 and the Nasdaq Composite was flat at 5,014.

The eagerly-awaited non-farm payrolls report, which was released a day early due to the public holiday on Friday, showed a gain of 223,000 in June, below economists’ expectations for a rise of 233,000. Meanwhile, readings for April and May were revised lower by a combined 60,000.

“Although behind expectations, and accompanied by news that April and May had collectively seen 60,000 fewer jobs added than previously thought, the latest upturn suggests that the encouragingly strong run of job creation seen in recent years shows few signs of stalling,” said Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit.

“The employment report therefore fits in with recent central bank rhetoric that the economy continues to grow at a reasonable pace, but that there is some way to go before policymakers will feel comfortable enough to start hiking interest rates. Although the markets are currently pricing in a 36% chance of the first rate rise taking place in September, the Fed will want to see strong job creation sustained in coming months and signs that wage growth is starting to lift higher,” he added.

The unemployment rate for June fell by two tenths of a percentage point to 5.3%, compared with consensus expectations for a reading of 5.4%.

Elsewhere, Greece remained in focus after its finance minister Yanis Varoufakis said he would resign if Greeks voted ‘yes’ in the referendum.

He said that if Greeks were to vote that way, which he does not expect, the Greek government would find a way to reach an agreement with creditors.

Late on Wednesday, Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had delivered a television address in which he called on the country to reject the international bailout deal put forward by creditors, a day after Greece became the first developed economy to default on debt to the International Monetary Fund.

In corporate news, Tesla Motors gained after the electric car maker said Model S deliveries rose 52% in the second quarter.

Progress Software rallied 6% after the company raised its outlook for the year late on Wednesday.

US health insurer Centene said on Thursday that it will buy rival Health Net for $6.3bn, pushing the latter’s shares up a whopping 13%. Centene fell 4%.

Digital payments company XOOM Corp surged 22% on news that it has attracted a buyout bid from Paypal Inc.