Wall Street rises with support from financials, tech stocks

U.S. stocks rose on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average at an all-time high, driven by gains in financial and technology stocks.

Ten of the 11 major S&P sectors were higher. Financials led with a 0.6 per cent gain, followed by a 0.5 per cent increase in technology stocks.

Italy indicated that it was open to reducing its budget deficit and debt in the coming years, easing concerns over the country's high debt levels that have pressured global stock markets since the country's ruling coalition last week tripled the previous government's deficit target.

U.S. bank stocks rose, with Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America up between 0.6 per cent and 0.7 per cent, mirroring a recovery in their Italian peers.

"Today, so far, has been better-than-expected performance out of Europe," said Michael Antonelli, managing director, institutional sales trading at Robert W. Baird in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Antonelli said while Italy was not a gigantic catalyst for the market, but a loss out of Europe has been setting the tone for the U.S. markets.

Among top gainers on the S&P 500 stocks was General Motors, which rose 2.9 per cent after Honda Motor said it would invest $2 billion over 12 years in the U.S. carmaker's Cruise self-driving unit.

In another sign of a healthy U.S. economy, data showed U.S. private payrolls recorded their biggest increase in seven months in September, pointing to sustained labour market strength. The stronger-than-expected data comes ahead of the more comprehensive non-farm payrolls data on Friday.

At 9:51 a.m. EDT, the Dow was up 109.59 points, or 0.41 per cent, at 26,883.53, the S&P 500 was up 10.82 points, or 0.37 per cent, at 2,934.25 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 28.81 points, or 0.36 per cent, at 8,028.36.

Michael Kors rose 1.6 per cent after Citi upgraded the company's shares, citing a potential upside from its recent purchase of Italian fashion house Versace.

Intel was up 2.3 per cent. The chipmaker, which rose 3.6 per cent on Tuesday, was among the biggest drivers on the Dow.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.85-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and a 1.44-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P index recorded 20 new 52-week highs and six new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 20 new highs and 29 new lows.

(With inputs from agencies.)