US STOCKS-S&P 500, Nasdaq close at records on jobs data; Nvidia market cap near $4 trillion

By Sabrina Valle

NEW YORK, July 3 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq closed at record highs on Thursday after a stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report, while Nvidia shares spiked and its valuation neared $4 trillion.

Traders quickly priced out chances of an interest-rate cut in July, with the odds of a 25-basis-point reduction in September at 68%, according to CME Group's Fedwatch tool, down from 74% a week ago.

"We are seeing a real bout of irrational exuberance, the stock market is very biased towards optimism," said Kristina Hooper, Chief Market Strategist at Man Group in New York.

"But there's some basis for it. I think there is some level of relief, because the jobs report was not what could have been".

Unofficially, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 344.11 points, or 0.77%, to 44,828.53, the S&P 500 .SPX rose 51.94 points, or 0.83%, to 6,279.36 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC rose 207.97 points, or 1.02%, to 20,601.10.

Nvidia's NVDA.O market capitalization neared $4 trillion.

Data showed nonfarm payrolls increased by 147,000 jobs last month, 33% more than the 110,000 jobs forecasted by economists polled by Reuters. Unemployment fell to 4.1% last month, a better result than the 4.3% expected.

The report was released a day early because of the Independence Day holiday on Friday. Trading volumes were lighter than usual on Thursday with markets due to close early, at 1 p.m. ET.

Separate data showed the number of Americans filing new applications for jobless benefits fell to a six-week low last week and U.S. services sector activity picked up in June as orders rebounded but employment contracted for the third time this year, underlining the impact of policy uncertainty on businesses.

Meanwhile, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives advanced President Donald Trump's massive tax-cut and spending bill toward a final yes-or-no vote, appearing to overcome internal party divisions over its cost.

The legislation is expected to add $3.4 trillion to the nation's $36.2 trillion in debt over the next decade, according to nonpartisan analysts.

TripAdvisor TRIP.O climbed after the Wall Street Journal reported activist investor Starboard Value had built a more than 9% stake in the online travel company.

Datadog DDOG.O jumped after the cloud security firm was set to replace Juniper Networks on the S&P 500.