LIVE MARKETS-Wall St tries for rebound as war worries show signs of abating

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WALL ST TRIES FOR REBOUND AS WAR WORRIES SHOW SIGNS OF ABATING

U.S. stocks attempted to claw back some lost ground in the initial minutes of trading on Wednesday, as glimmers of a potential resolution to the U.S.-Israel war on Iran helped calm geopolitical jitters which have preoccupied investors this week.

All three major U.S. stock indexes opened modestly higher, but quickly lost steam as they tried to stage a partial comeback from Tuesday's rout, which dragged the bellwether S&P 500 below its 100-day moving average for the first time this year.

The rally lost momentum within the first half-hour, with the blue-chip Dow dipping into the red, then bounced back after an upbeat PMI report.

It's all part of the intra-session see-saw investors have come to recognize. Rallies turn to selloffs, then it's back to rallying. Or vice-versa.

Tech .SPLRCT in general and chips .SOX in particular helped boost the Nasdaq to the head of the pack, while recently-battered small-caps .RUT, retail .SPXRT and consumer discretionary .SPLRCD benefited from dip-buying.

A report from the New York Times said Iran's Ministry of Intelligence signaled to the Central Intelligence Agency that it was open to talks to end the war, which offered a glimmer of upbeat news amid reports of U.S. submarine attacks on Iranian warships, as attacks - both thwarted and successful - were reported in Turkey, Cyprus and Iraq.

Data from payrolls processor ADP suggested the U.S. economy added more than expected private sector jobs last month, but fewer than initially reported jobs in January.

The Institute for Supply Management and S&P Global also issued their dueling purchasing managers' indexes for the services sector, which showed services business activity continued to expand in February. While S&P Global recorded a loss of momentum, ISM showed an acceleration, which gave a boost to stocks.

Will it last? In a see-saw market, what goes up must come down.

Here's where things stood at 10:03 EST:

(Stephen Culp)

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EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

BROADCOM ONE OF THE LAST KEY REPORTS STILL DUE CLICK HERE

EUROPE'S MIXED BAG CLICK HERE

EUROPEAN BEVERAGES: LOW DIRECT MIDDLE EAST EXPOSURE, SENSITIVITIES ELSEWHERE CLICK HERE

EXTREME STRENGTH IN THE ENERGY SECTOR, BUT INSIDERS SELL - SENTIMENTRADER CLICK HERE

STOXX TAKES A BREATHER, HELPED BY TECH, DEFENSIVES CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: TENTATIVE STABILISATION, SPAIN DOWN CLICK HERE

STOCKS DUMP MORE ON OIL SHOCK FEARS CLICK HERE

(Stephen Culp)

((stephen.culp@thomsonreuters.com))