Wall Street starts 3Q on high note

Upbeat global economic reports are giving stocks a lift.

Investors started the third quarter on a positive note after the ADP National Employment Report said Wednesday that private sector employment fell by 473,000 in June. That was less than the 532,000 jobs shed in May.

Job losses are a key focus as investors try to determine whether the economy is pulling out of the recession. The ADP report comes a day ahead of the Labor Department's key monthly jobs report.

Earlier, the market had risen on manufacturing reports in Britain and the 16 countries that share the euro currency.

Later Wednesday morning, investors will get reports on manufacturing, construction spending and pending home sales.

In early trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 76.79, or 0.9 percent, to 8,523.79. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 7.25, or 0.8 percent, to 926.57, and the Nasdaq composite index rose 13.73, or 0.8 percent, to 1,848.77.

Bond prices slipped. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note, which moves opposite its price, rose to 3.59 percent from 3.54 percent late Tuesday.

Despite falling sharply Tuesday on a disappointing report on consumer confidence, stocks ended the second quarter with significant gains. The benchmark S&P 500 index had its best quarter in a decade.

In corporate news, Citigroup Inc. sold NikkoCiti Trust and Banking Corp., part of its Japanese business, to Nomura Trust and Banking Co. for $196 million. The New York bank, which has received $45 billion in government aid, has been selling assets and trying to streamline operations in an effort to return to profitability.

And in an upbeat earnings report, General Mills Inc. said its fiscal fourth-quarter profit nearly doubled. The maker of Cheerios cereal and Yoplait yogurt also offered earnings guidance for 2010 above analysts' expectations. Shares rose $1.55, or 2.8 percent, to $57.58.

Analysts say earnings reports coming in the next few weeks will largely determine which way the market heads in the third quarter. Investors are especially eager to hear what companies have to say about business prospects in the second half of the year.

Markets have pulled a stunning recovery since hitting 12-year lows in early March. All the major indexes rose by double-digit percentage points in the second quarter, while the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq composite index finished higher for the first six months of 2009.

Still, the major indexes have pulled back from multi-month highs in mid-June amid growing doubts about the strength of the economy's recovery. Since June 12, the Dow is down 4 percent, the S&P 500 down 2.8 percent and the Nasdaq, 1.5 percent.

The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 4.95, or 1 percent, to 513.23