(Corrects typo in paragraph 1)
* U.S. job growth in June beats expectations
* Tesla jumps after Q2 deliveries beat
* Florida reports record rise in daily infections
* Indexes up: Dow 0.94%, S&P 0.95%, Nasdaq 1.07%
By Uday Sampath Kumar and Devik Jain
July 2 (Reuters) - Wall Street rose on Thursday after a
record-setting increase in monthly U.S. jobs, but surging
COVID-19 cases raised fears of more lockdowns and kept gains in
check.
The Nasdaq .IXIC opened at an all-time high after data
showed the U.S. economy created 4.8 million jobs in June, the
most since the government began keeping records in 1939, but
later pared gains on reports of another spike in infections
across the country. Florida reported more than 10,000 new cases on Thursday, the
biggest one-day increase in the state since the pandemic
started, creating even more skepticism around a V-shaped
economic recovery. "A lot of people who are just looking at the economic data
and ignoring the COVID data are setting themselves up for a
problem," said Mike Zigmont, head of trading and research at
Harvest Volatility Management in New York.
"If you are respectful of the COVID risk, that doesn't
require a drastic market sell-off, but it requires you to pause
from hitting the buy button like crazy."
Optimism about a post-pandemic rebound in business activity,
aggressive U.S. stimulus and hopes of a vaccine have fueled a
Wall Street rally since April, with the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX
now just about 7% below its February record high.
Investors are now looking ahead to the quarterly earnings
season, which kicks off in mid July, for signs of the hit to
Corporate America in the latter half of the year.
Earnings for S&P 500 companies are forecast to have plunged
43% in the second quarter, according to Refinitiv data, while
third-quarter profits are expected to tumble 25%.
"The market wants to hear the recovery story, they don't
want to hear about how much damage has happened," Zigmont said.
At 11:51 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI
was up 242.46 points, or 0.94%, at 25,977.43, the S&P 500 was up
29.58 points, or 0.95%, at 3,145.44, and the Nasdaq Composite
was up 108.35 points, or 1.07%, at 10,262.98.
Ten of the 11 major S&P sectors were trading higher and
gains were led by industrials .SPLRCI , basic materials
.SPLRCM and energy .SPNY stocks.
Tesla TSLA.O jumped 7.4% after beating Wall Street
estimates for second-quarter vehicle deliveries. Coty COTY.N added 3.5% after it named former top executive
of L'Oreal, Sue Nabi, as its chief executive officer.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners more than 3-to-1 on
the NYSE and 2-to-1 on the Nasdaq.
The S&P index recorded 33 new 52-week highs and no new low,
while the Nasdaq recorded 101 new highs and seven new lows.