NEW YORK, July 3 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks opened higher on Wednesday as more weak data fueled investors' expectations for potential interest rate cuts from the Federal Reserve.

Shortly after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average increased 68.62 points, or 0.26 percent, to 26,855.30. The S&P 500 was up 7.66 points, or 0.26 percent, to 2,980.67. The Nasdaq Composite Index climbed 21.23 points, or 0.26 percent, to 8,130.32.

Of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors, real estate rose 0.9 percent shortly after the opening, outperforming the rest. Materials, however, struggled.

The private sector added 102,000 jobs from May to June, payroll data company Automatic Data Processing reported on Wednesday. The reading fell short of economists' expectations of 140,000 new jobs polled by Econoday.

"Job growth has slowed sharply in recent months, as businesses have turned more cautious in their hiring," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics.

Earlier this week, a report released by the Institute for Supply Management showed that the U.S. manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) registered 51.7 percent in June, a decrease of 0.4 percentage point from the May reading of 52.1 percent. The rate marked the slowest pace since October 2016.

The lackluster data came as investors are pricing high on possible rate cut moves from the U.S. central bank in order to spur growth.

Market expectations for a July rate cut are at 100 percent, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool Wednesday morning. Enditem

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