By Sinéad Carew and Amanda Cooper

NEW YORK/LONDON (Reuters) - U.S. equities were higher on Wednesday in contrast with Europe's losses while safe-haven gold was in demand as investors anxiously awaited details of U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff plans and worried about an intensifying global trade war.

Investor focus on Wednesday was firmly on reciprocal levies the White House is due to announce after the U.S. stock market close, in what Trump has called "Liberation Day."

Trump is expected to add new trade tariffs that take effect immediately, adding to already imposed levies on aluminium, steel and autos, along with increased duties on all goods from China that have rattled markets as fears grow that a full-blown trade war could trigger a sharp global economic slowdown.

European Central Bank head Christine Lagarde said on Wednesday that the tariffs will be negative across the world, with the damage depending on how far they go, how long they last and whether they lead to successful negotiations.

On the data front, Wednesday's survey of U.S. private sector employment showed a rise of 155,000 in the number of workers on payroll, above a forecast for an increase of 115,000.

While stock futures did not rally immediately after the release, Wall Street indexes gained some steam as the session progressed.

Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise, pointed to "a combination of over-sold technical conditions, some good private payrolls data this morning" for the gains, with hopes for more clarity on the tariff environment. But he said there would likely be no real relief from the news.

"We're going to be in a period of volatility over the near term. Stocks are likely to bounce around higher or lower," he said. "I don't know that we're going to get the kind of clarity the market is hoping for with the tariff announcement tonight."

"The tariff situation is only going to get complicated by what they announce today. It's going to be targeting more countries, potentially more products," he said, suggesting that high tariffs may be followed by negotiations for lower rates.

On Wall Street, at 2:50 p.m. EDT, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 129.69 points, or 0.31%, to 42,122.32, the S&P 500 rose 19.75 points, or 0.36%, to 5,653.30 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 89.76 points, or 0.53%, to 17,541.36.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose 2.08 points, or 0.25%, to 834.23. Earlier, the pan-European STOXX 600 index closed down 0.5%.

In currencies, the U.S. dollar fell against peers such as the euro and sterling, while Japan's safe-haven yen fell as traders awaited news that could potentially upend global trade and shake financial markets.

The euro was up 0.58% at $1.0856 and sterling strengthened 0.46% to $1.2979.

But against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened 0.27% to 150.01.

In Treasuries, yields reversed declines after private job market and manufacturing data while investors turned their focus to the tariff announcements.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose 5.3 basis points to 4.209% from 4.156% on Tuesday while the 30-year bond yield rose 4.6 basis points to 4.5611%.

The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve, rose 5.5 basis points to 3.918%, from 3.863%.

"They could be becoming a little bit overbought for the time being," said Robert Tipp, chief investment strategist and head of global bonds at PGIM Fixed Income in Newark, New Jersey.

The price of gold, viewed as a safe haven in times of financial and political stress, climbed back toward Tuesday's intraday record high. [GOL/] Gold has jumped about 19% so far this year after a 27% gain in 2024.

On Wednesday, spot gold rose 0.36% to $3,121.61 an ounce. U.S. gold futures rose 0.55% to $3,136.00 an ounce.

In energy markets, oil prices rose as investors waited for the tariff news, which could increase uncertainty about the outlook for demand.

U.S. crude futures settled up 0.72% or 51 cents at $71.71 a barrel while Brent settled at $74.95 per barrel, up 0.62% or 46 cents on the day.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew in New York and Amanda Cooper in London; Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak in New York and Ankur Banerjee in Singapore; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Tomasz Janowski, Alex Richardson and Matthew Lewis)