Stocks Opened Higher ahead of Holiday

U.S. stocks opened higher on Wednesday, ahead of Thursday’s market close for Independence Day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lately climbed 53.01 points, or 0.20%, to 26,839.69. The S&P 500 added 7.81 points, or 0.26%, to 2,980.82. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 23.90 points, or 0.29%, to 8,132.99.

Oil futures prices ticked up from two-week lows Wednesday after a preview of U.S. supply data showed another drop after surprisingly strong draws in recent weeks. August West Texas Intermediate crude was up 43 cents, or 0.7%, at $56.68 a barrel. September Brent was up 69 cents, or 1.1%, at $63.09 a barrel.

Job growth in the U.S. private sector slowed again during the month of June, according to a new report from ADP Research Institute and Moody’s. The U.S. private sector added a disappointing 102,000 positions in June, lower than the 140,000 positions Wall Street was predicting.

The number of people who applied for unemployment benefits last week fell slightly and remained near post-recession lows. Initial jobless claims, a rough way to measure layoffs, fell by 8,000 to 221,000 in the seven days ended June 29, the government said Wednesday.