US open: Stocks rally on private payrolls data, Yellen speech

US stocks advanced on Wednesday after a better-than-estimated private payrolls report and a dovish speech from Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen.

At 1505 BST, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.73%, the S&P 500 increased 0.64% and the Nasdaq edged up 0.88%.

The ADP said the private sector in the US added 200,000 jobs in March, beating expectations of 195,000 jobs but marking a deceleration from the previous month’s 214,000 jobs.

The report comes ahead of the all-important US non-farm payrolls report on Friday, which Societe Generale expects to show a solid increase of 217,000 in March, up from 214,000 in February.

Meanwhile, investors continued to weigh Yellen’s speech at the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday.

Yellen said the central bank would move cautiously when it came to further interest rate hikes, striking a dovish tone that contrasted greatly with the hawkish comments last week from San Francisco Fed President John Williams, Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart and St Louis Fed President James Bullard.

The Fed Chair highlighted global economic uncertainty, including the slowdown in China and sliding oil prices as reasons behind the Fed’s decision not to hike in January or March and said there would be “only gradual increases” going forward.

In another lift to markets, oil prices regained strength after a report by the American Petroleum Institute late on Tuesday showed US crude stocks likely rose by 2.6m barrels last week to 534.4m, which was less than the 3.3m analysts had expected.

Weekly US crude oil inventory data from the Department of Energy is due at 1630 BST.

West Texas Intermediate crude jumped 2.9% to $39.46 per barrel and Brent was up 2.6% to $40.21 per barrel at 1517 BST.

On the corporate front, shares in Boeing fell slightly after saying it will cut more than 4,500 jobs by June to accelerate cost cuts.

Technology giant Apple Inc was higher after the Wall Street Journal reported that it will supply every Major League Baseball team with iPad Pro tablets to help teams and coaches use performance stats.

Sonic Corp rallied after the fast food chain’s second quarter earnings beat expectations.

In currencies, the US dollar fell 0.46% against the pound, dropped 0.56% versus the euro and dipped 0.24% against the yen.