Updates with early afternoon price

By Sruthi Shankar and Nikhil Sharma

July 2 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks recovered from opening losses to trade higher on Wednesday, helped by Nvidia, Apple and Tesla, while investors looked ahead to the non-farm payrolls report for clues on how soon the Federal Reserve would lower borrowing costs.

Tesla TSLA.O rose 4.2%, even as the EV-maker posted a big drop in second-quarter deliveries, with some traders saying the numbers were less severe than analysts' bleak forecasts. The stock has shed more than 20% this year.

Nvidia NVDA.O rose 2.2%, while Apple AAPL.O added 1.8%, keeping technology shares in the lead.

Markets opened lower after data showed U.S. private payrolls fell unexpectedly in June and job gains in the prior month were smaller than initially thought, fueling increased bets of interest-rate cuts as soon as July.

The focus, however, is on the more comprehensive non-farm payrolls report on Thursday - set to be released a day earlier than usual, with markets closed on July 4 for Independence Day. The reading is expected to show U.S. job growth cooled in June and the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.3%, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

"What's happening now is the data is getting very close for the Fed to make a move. There's going to be a cut - it's just a matter of July or September and then we'll go from there," said Joe Saluzzi, co-manager of trading at Themis Trading.

"The (April) selloff really shook a lot of people out and you might see more buyers coming in. I think momentum is very powerful in this market."

The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 touched record highs on Monday, recovering from their April slump as investors looked past trade uncertainties and geopolitical tensions to bet on accommodative monetary policy from the U.S. central bank and AI potentially driving earnings for tech companies.

The blue-chip Dow was within 1.3% of hitting an all-time high.

At 11:58 a.m., the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 2.29 points, or 0.00%, to 44,496.43, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 17.19 points, or 0.27%, to 6,214.98, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC gained 152.33 points, or 0.75%, to 20,354.69.

President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he was not considering extending the July 9 deadline for imposing tariffs and expressed doubts that an agreement could be reached with Japan, but said the U.S. had struck a deal with Vietnam and expected one with India.

Meanwhile, Trump's massive tax-and-spending bill heads to the U.S. House of Representatives for possible final approval after the Senate passed the legislation, which nonpartisan analysts say will add $3.4 trillion to the national debt over the next decade.

Seven of the 11 major S&P sectors nursed losses, with utilities and healthcare falling 1% and 0.7%, respectively.

Centene CNC.N tumbled about 40% and was set for its worst day on record, if losses hold, after the health insurer said it had withdrawn its 2025 earnings forecast after data showed a significant drop in expected revenue from its marketplace health insurance plans.

Shares of peers including Elevance Health ELV.N fell 8%, Molina Healthcare MOH.N sank 20% and UnitedHealth UNH.N lost 3.5%.

Verint Systems VRNT.O rose 12.2% after Bloomberg News reported buyout firm Thoma Bravo was in talks to acquire the call-center software maker.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.79-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.77-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 24 new 52-week highs and three new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 66 new highs and 34 new lows.

(Reporting by Sruthi Shankar and Nikhil Sharma in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Pooja Desai)

((sruthi.shankar@thomsonreuters.com;))