July 6, 2016 9:55am
 

U.S. stocks rose Wednesday, helped by a reversal in oil prices and gains in health care stocks.
The Federal Reserve meeting minutes released in the afternoon showed policymakers said it was prudent to wait for more data and the Brexit vote result before raising rates. The non-farm payrolls report due Friday is the key data for the week.
The major U.S. indexes came off lows to trade higher earlier in the day.
“It’s just a combination of everything (that happened) overnight just started to reverse,” said Jeremy Klein, chief market strategist at FBN Securities.
U.S. crude oil futures rose 1.7 percent ahead of inventory data due in the next 24 hours. WTI fell more than 4.5 percent Tuesday.
The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield came off a record low of 1.321 percent to trade near 1.39 percent. The Japanese yen was near 101 against the U.S. dollar after earlier threatening to break below 100.
The Dow Jones industrial average traded about 50 points higher with Home Depot and UnitedHealth having the greatest positive impact, while Boeing, DuPont and 3M weighed.
The Nasdaq composite outperformed as shares of Facebook,Amazon.com, Apple and Alphabet climbed. The iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (IBB) traded more than 2 percent higher.
The Dow transports traded half a percent lower after earlier falling more than 1.5 percent. Norfolk Southern led advancers, while American Airlines was the greatest decliner.
“I still think we’re in a risk-off environment here,” said Peter Coleman, head trader at Convergex. He’s watching the 10-year Treasury yield and European bank stocks.
Earlier, the major indexes briefly recovered much of their opening losses after the ISM non-manufacturing PMI came in at 56.5 for June versus 52.9 in May. Markit’s U.S. services PMI showed marginal expansion at 51.4 in June, up fractionally from 51.3 in May.
Other Treasury yields came off lows and tried for gains in late-morning trade, with the 2-year yield last near 0.57 percent. The 30-year Treasury yield was last trading near 2.15 percent after earlier touching a fresh record low of 2.098 percent.
“A lot of what we’re seeing yesterday and today continues to be side effects of the referendum from a couple weeks ago,” said Ryan Larson, head of equity trading, U.S., RBC Global Asset Management (U.S.).
“The uncertainty continues to cloud the outlook. That seems to be the biggest factor in terms of the declines we’ve seen,” he said.
Pound sterling traded near $1.296 after hitting a fresh 31-year low against the U.S. dollar overnight.
The U.S. dollar index struggled for gains, with the euro near $1.109 and the yen near 101.4 yen versus the greenback as of 1:22 p.m. ET.
“The question is what’s going to happen when you can’t just let the market cover up the real damage and the question is how is the real economy going to grow with all this uncertainty going on,” said Adam Sarhan, CEO of Sarhan Capital.
Earlier, a report showed the U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in May to $41.1 billion from $37.4 billion the prior month.

European stocks were mostly lower, with the German DAX off more than 1.5 percent, tracking for a weekly decline of more than 4 percent.
The STOXX Europe 600 Banks index were about 2.5 percent lower, on pace for a weekly loss of more than 6.5 percent.
Henderson Global and Columbia Threadneedle became the latest firms to suspend dealings in U.K. property funds Wednesday.
“News like that makes people nervous,” Coleman said, noting he “wouldn’t equate it to anything near to 2008.”

Overnight, the People’s Bank of China set the official midpoint rate of the yuan against the dollar at 6.6857, 0.4 percent softer than the previous fix and the weakest since November 2010, according to Reuters.
Asian stocks closed mostly lower, with the Hang Seng 1.2 percent lower and the Nikkei 225 nearly 1.9 percent lower. The Shanghai composite closed about a third of a percent higher.
In afternoon trade, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 50 points, or 0.28 percent, to 17,889, with Merck leading advancers and DuPont the greatest decliner.
The S&P 500 traded up 6 points, or 0.3 percent, to 2,094, with health care leading seven sectors higher and telecommunications the biggest laggard.
The Nasdaq composite climbed 26 points, or 0.54 percent, to 4,848.
The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), widely considered the best gauge of fear in the market, briefly jumped above 17.
About four stocks advanced for every three decliners on the New York Stock Exchange, with an exchange volume of 449 million and a composite volume of 2.054 billion in afternoon trade.
U.S. crude oil futures for August delivery rose 72 cents to $47.32 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Gold futures for August delivery jumped $8.90 to $1,367.60 an ounce as of 1:26 p.m. ET.