Nasdaq up 0.78% (Il Sole 24 Ore Radiocor) - New York, 03 Jun - US shares opened higher to kick off a week featuring key updates on the jobs market amid rising hopes an interest rate cut may be nearer than expected.

Wall Street ended the week on a brighter note, closing out May with good gains to rack up its sixth positive month in seven.

In the week ahead, investors will be focusing on the payrolls report due out on Friday, while updates on job openings and private wage growth will also be high up on the agenda.

Strong labor market readings have stoked concern the Federal Reserve may have to keep interest rates higher for longer as it strives to bring inflation down.

Last week a raft of Fed policymakers warned they needed to see hard evidence pricing pressure was trending down towards the central bank's 2% target before they could entertain the idea of easing monetary policy.

But the Fed's preferred gauge of inflation data on Friday indicated pricing pressure could be showing signs of easing.

On the stocks front, the earnings season is in its final stages with results this week from names that include Lululemon Athletica, Dollar Tree and CrowdStrike.

In today's activity, shares in GameStop soared more than 60% in early trade after a Reddit account associated with Keith Gill, also known as Roaring Kitty, appeared to show the man who inspired the 2021 short squeeze had a 116 million dollar position in the video games retailer.

Elsewhere shares in chipmakers Nvidia and AMD were higher after they presented next-generation AI chips while medical-waste-disposal company Stericycle was up 15% after Waste Management agreed to buy the company.

Just after the opening bell the Dow Jones was up 18.64 points, or 0.05%, at 38,704.96, the S&P 500 was up 19.74 points, or 0.37%, at 5,297.25 while the Nasdaq was up 129.80 points, or 0.78%, at 16,864.81.

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(RADIOCOR) 03-06-24 15:43:27 (0449) 5 NNNN