By Tanya Agrawal
(Reuters) - Wall Street surged in late morning trading on Wednesday after a Bloomberg report that Germany may be satisfied with Greece committing to at least one economic reform in return for aid.
All three major indexes rose more than 1 percent on the same day for the first time in a month.
The blue-chip Dow Industrial Average opened higher for the first time in 5 days, while the Nasdaq Composite snapped a four-day losing streak, rising the most in a month. The S&P was positive for the second day in a row.
The German government may settle for a clear commitment by Greece to a measure up front to unlock aid, Bloomberg reported, citing two people familiar with Germany's position. (http://bloom.bg/1BYRRg4)
"The report definitely added to the bullish sentiment of the market and stocks jumped on it. No question about it," said Adam Sarhan, chief executive of Sarhan Capital in New York.
Investors are looking for more clarity on the timing of the first rate hike since 2006 by the U.S. Federal Reserve as economic data points to a recovering U.S. economy, which had come to a standstill in the first quarter.
Applications for U.S. home mortgages rose last week, while interest rates hit their highest level since November 2014, data released on Wednesday showed.
"We've been seeing this low volume and narrow range-bound trading for a while," said Scott Wren, senior global equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute in St. Louis, Missouri.
"I think we will see a nominal hate hike in September because the Fed is eager to get the normalization process started."
The U.S. dollar index hit a three-week low, with analysts pointing to debate around the G7 summit regarding the speed of the dollar's rise as the U.S. prepares to end years of cheap central-bank cash.
At 11:48 a.m. ET (1548 GMT) the Dow Jones industrial average was up 252.81 points, or 1.42 percent, at 18,016.85, the S&P 500 was up 25.27 points, or 1.21 percent, at 2,105.42 and the Nasdaq Composite was up 64.60 points, or 1.29 percent, at 5,078.47.
All the 10 major S&P 500 sectors were higher, with the technology index, leading the gainers with a 1.57 percent rise. Energy and Financial stocks were also higher, with the prospect of higher interest rates boosting financial stocks.
Apple's 1.2 percent rise gave the biggest boost to the Nasdaq and the S&P, while Goldman Sachs' 1.9 percent increase was the biggest driver for the Dow.
HCC Insurance Holdings shares rose 35.8 percent to $76.98 after Tokio Marine Holdings said it had agreed to buy U.S. specialty insurer for $7.5 billion.
Netflix was up 5.7 percent at $684.32 - a new record-high - a day after shareholders approved a massive increase in the number of shares the company is authorized to issue, the first step toward a possible stock split.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,327 to 619. On the Nasdaq, 2,066 issues rose and 581 fell.
Twenty six stocks on the S&P 500 index hit a 52-week high and four a 52-week low. The Nasdaq recorded 130 highs and 23 lows.
(Reporting by Tanya Agrawal; Editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
