NEW YORK: The S&P 500 rose on Wednesday for the ninth time in the past ten sessions on a boost from Nvidia and Microsoft, as data showed a moderate increase in US private payrolls last month.

The best-performing S&P 500 constituent Nvidia Corp gained 2.7% after several brokerages hiked their price targets on its shares following the announcement of powerful gaming chips in collaboration with Micron Technology Inc and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

The Philadelphia SE chip index rose 1.6%.

US private employers hired 428,000 workers in August, according to an ADP report, far below economists' forecast of a 950,000 increase, signalling the labour market recovery was slowing as the Covid-19 pandemic drags on and fiscal stimulus fades.

Focus will now be on the government's comprehensive employment report, which is slated for Friday.

The Dow is just about 2% below its all-time high on Feb. 12.

The healthcare and financial sectors, which have lagged the broader market this year, provided the biggest boost to the S&P 500.

At 11:28 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 179.09 points, or 0.63%, at 28,824.75, the S&P 500 was up 18.52 points, or 0.53%, at 3,545.17. The Nasdaq Composite was down 34.08 points, or 0.29%, at 11,905.59.

High-flying shares of Apple Inc, Tesla Inc and Zoom Video Communications Inc dropped between 3.5% and 10.0%, curbing the tech-heavy Nasdaq's advance.-Reuters