DJIA up 69.09 points (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - New York, 01 Jul - US shares were trading flat to higher to kick off the new quarter in a holiday-shortened week where the focus will be on jobs.

Wall Street closed out the first half of the year with the S&P 500 up 14.5% and the Nasdaq some 18% ahead as tech stocks flourished amid ongoing AI frenzy. The Dow added a more modest 3.8%.

As the third quarter begins, the prospects for interest rates remains the key theme as investors try to fathom out whether the Federal Reserve has leeway to ease monetary policy this year.

Stubborn inflation has led the Fed to put back the timetable for rate cuts and prompted traders to recalculate their expectations for the number of cuts this year.

A flurry of jobs data during the week will culminate Friday with the key monthly payrolls reading that investors will be monitoring closely for signs the jobs market is softening.

Jobs are key to the debate about when the Fed can start cutting interest rates and whether it will be able to engineer a soft landing - taming inflation without triggering a recession.

Today data showed that manufacturing activity in June slowed, largely in line with expectations.

While construction spending unexpectedly fell in May Markets will close early on July 3 and will remain closed on July 4 for Independence Day.

On the stocks front, shares in Boeing were up 2.56% after it said it would buy Spirit AeroSystems in an all-share deal.

Spirit Aerosystems shares were up 3.7%.

At 1849 GMT, the Dow Jones was up 69.09 points, or 0.18%, at 39,187.95 points.

The S&P 500 was 10.17 points, or 0.19%, higher at 5,470.65 points.

The Nasdaq was gaining 100.01 points, or 0.56%, higher at 17,832.62 points.

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(RADIOCOR) 01-07-24 19:54:07 (0660) 5 NNNN