By Anora Mahmudova and Sara Sjolin, MarketWatch

U.S. stocks rebounded from a two-day rout Wednesday, with major indexes trading about 1% higher after Chinese stocks stabilized somewhat and U.S. data showed solid private-sector job gains last month and a jump in productivity growth in the second quarter.

Wednesday's data and the monthly payrolls report due Friday are among the last economic reports before the Federal Reserve makes a decision on interest rates at its Sept. 16-17 policy meeting.

The S&P 500 added 19 points, or 1% to 1,933. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 180 points, or 1.1%, to 16,249. The Nasdaq Composite advanced 56 points, or 1.2% to 4,693.

"Investors are interpreting the ADP data, showing 190,000 jobs as not big enough for the Fed to go ahead with the September rate hike, but solid enough to indicate there is no spillover from China's weakness into our economy," said John Canally, investment strategist and economist at LPL Financial.

"The fact there was no news from China today and markets there will be closed for the next two days also helped push U.S. stocks higher," Canally said.

China's stock markets are closed Thursday and Friday (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/china-to-close-stock-market-to-honor-world-war-ii-anniversary-2015-09-01) for the World War II Victory Day parade.

The Shanghai Composite Index slipped 0.2% (http://www.marketwatch.com/storyno-meta-for-guid) on Wednesday, for a 2.2% weekly slide.

U.S. data: Investors are trying to gauge how the latest economic news will affect the Fed's debate on when to raise interest rates. Read: Where every Fed member stands on raising interest rates (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/where-every-fed-member-stands-on-raising-interest-rates-2015-08-28).

Private-sector employment gains continued in August at a slightly faster pace than in July. Employers added 190,000 jobs last month, Automatic Data Processing Inc. reported Wednesday.

U.S. productivity in the second quarter rose at the fastest pace since the end of 2013 (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-productivity-rises-at-fastest-pace-since-end-of-2013-2015-09-02). Factory orders rose 0.4% in July, marking the second month of gains after a strong June (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/factory-orders-rise-for-second-month-in-july-2015-09-02).

The Fed's Beige Book is slated for release at 2 p.m.

Movers and shakers: Shares of H&R Block, Inc jumped 7% after the company announced the start of a self-tender offer for up to $1.5 billion of its common stock.

Dollar Tree, Inc.(DLTR) shares fell 2%, adding to a 8.7% loss on Tuesday when the discount retailer announced it swung into a loss during the latest quarter.

Tuesday's closing bell, AT&T Inc.(T) said TRC Capital Corp. has made an unsolicited "mini-tender" offer (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/att-recommends-shareholders-reject-trc-capitals-3-million-share-mini-tender-offer-2015-09-01) to buy up to 3 million of the telecom company's shares. AT&T recommended that shareholders reject the offer. Shares were up 1.3%.

Intel Corp.(INTC) rose 2.2% after the tech giant late Tuesday said its overhauling its flagship line of computer chips (http://www.wsj.com/articles/intel-overhauls-chips-in-bid-to-revive-pc-sales-1441155601).

Other markets: European stock markets started the day higher, but pared gains in midmorning action. Oil futures were little changed (http://www.marketwatch.com/storyno-meta-for-guid) after a 7.7% plunge on Tuesday that reversed a three-session climb. Gold inched lower, while the ICE dollar index rose 0.3% to 95.749.

 

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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 02, 2015 10:14 ET (14:14 GMT)

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