US open: Stocks rise ahead of Independence Day celebrations

US stocks rose for a third day on Friday ahead of the long weekend as investors took a break from worrying about Brexit and the uncertainty surrounding the upcoming US Presidential election.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.29%, the S&P 500 increased 0.35% and the Nasdaq gained 0.36% at 1518 BST.

Traders seemed to be buying up before US markets close for trading on Monday 4 July for Independence Day.

Oil prices were also higher with West Texas Intermediate crude up 0.33% to $48.49 per barrel and Brent up 0.22% to $49.82 per barrel at 1520 BST.

In economic data, the seasonally adjusted final Markit US manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) registered 51.3 in June, up from 50.7 in May as manufacturers indicated a slight rebound in production volumes during June, helped by the fastest rise in new work since March. June’s final reading marked a downward revision from a previous estimate of 51.4 but was better than the 51.2 that analysts had been expecting.

The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) said its index of national factory activity rose to 53.2 in June from 51.3 the month before. Analysts had pencilled in no change to the reading.

“Manufacturing data has been showing steady improvement for some time in the US, and today’s promising numbers indicate that trend is set to continue,” said Dennis de Jong, managing director t UFX.com.

“Janet Yellen and Co. will have obvious concerns about the potential impact of Brexit on US interests across all sectors, not least a strengthening dollar that will make manufactured goods more expensive for foreign buyers. However, with North American trade partners Canada and Mexico the main recipients of US exports, it may only be ripples that are felt from the earthquake that is gripping Europe at present.”

US construction spending fell 0.8% in May after a downwardly revised 2.0% drop in April, the Commerce Department said, missing forecasts for a 0.7% increase.

Elsewhere, China’s official manufacturing PMI fell slightly to 50.0 in June from 50.1 in May, as expected. Caixin’s manufacturing PMI decreased to 48.6 in June from 49.2 the previous month, missing forecasts for a reading of 49.2.

In Japan, deflation eased in May with the consumer price index down 0.4% year-on-year compared to a 0.3% fall the previous month. Analysts had expected it to worsen to a 0.5% decline.

Japanese household spending shrank by 1.1% year-on-year in May, as expected.

The unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.2% in April, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications said, also as expected.

In corporate news, Tesla Motors recovered from earlier falls after it emerged that US safety regulators would be investigating 25,000 Tesla S cars following an autopilot feature that was claimed to have caused a fatality.

Hersheys slumped after it rejected a bid from rival Mondelez.

Apple gained amid reports it is in talks to buy Jay Z’s Tidal streaming music service.

Hewlett-Packard edged higher as the company won $3bn in damages from Oracle in a court battle. HP claimed that Oracle backed out of a deal to support HP servers that used the Itanium line of chips from Intel Corp. Oracle said it would appeal the ruling.

In currency markets, the dollar rose 0.27% against the pound but fell 0.47% against the yen and dropped 0.16% versus the euro.