US stocks rise on Greek deal hopes

US stocks soared today (July 1st) in early trading after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said he was prepared to accept creditors’ bailout offer with some conditions.

At 09:53 ET, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 0.92 per cent to 17,782.02, the S&P 500 gained 0.77 per cent to 2,078.92 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 0.84 per cent to 5,028.64.

Alexis Tsipras has sent a letter to its creditors outlining Greek conditions for a bailout deal, a day after the country defaulted on a €1.6 billion repayment to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), with Greece becoming the first advanced economy to default on a loan from the global institution.

He said he wants to delay some of the pension changes and cuts to military spending proposed by the creditors. However, German Chancellor Angela Merkel refused to engage until after a July 5th referendum called by Tsipras on budget cuts demanded by the troika.

Will Europe accept the proposals?

The country has provided “no basis for talking about any serious measures” to break the deadlock, German finance minister Wolfgang Schaeuble told reporters.

"This is not quite the climbdown it seems," Peter Chatwell, a strategist at Mizuho International Plc told Bloomberg. "I strongly doubt Europe will accept this proposal and if Europe sticks to its guns and waits for the referendum, the greater the chance that the government fails."

Meanwhile, trading sentiment was further boosted on Wall Street by fresh data showing US private employers added 237,000 jobs in June, the biggest gain since December.

The stronger-than-expected rise in employment revived speculations the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates as early as September.

US government bonds sold off today after the report, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note reaching 2.426 per cent, compared with 2.335 per cent yesterday, according to Tradeweb.