US pre-open: Stocks seen touch lower as investors eye ADP report

US futures pointed to a marginally weaker open on Wall Street as investors awaited the release of a key jobs report.

At 1105 BST, Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500 and Nasdaq futures were down 0.2%.

At the same time, oil prices were in the black, with West Texas Intermediate and Brent crude up 0.7% at $39.81 and $42.11 a barrel, respectively.

The main focus on Wednesday was likely to be on the US ADP employment report, which is widely considered a pre-cursor to Friday’s all-important nonfarm payrolls.

Ana Thaker, market economist at PhillipCapital UK, said: “ADP employment figures from the US today are expected lower at 170k and will pave the way for nonfarm data on Friday. The labour market remains an area of concern for the Fed and despite alluding to the possibility of a rate hike this year, if labour market data is poor we are unlikely to see a rate hike over the remainder of 2016.

“The dollar index has seen a boost over the last week as investors look to the dollar for more yield and security. If we see ADP surpass expectations, we can expect a boost in the US dollar in an otherwise uncertain global outlook.”

The ADP report is at 1315 BST. Market participants will also be eyeing the release of Markit’s services PMI at 1445 BST and ISM non-manufacturing at 1500 BST.

On the corporate front, FitBit surged in pre-market trade after it released better-than-expected second-quarter earnings late on Tuesday.

Etsy was also on the front foot after the online marketplace posted a wider loss for the second quarter on Tuesday but a rise in revenue and users.

On the downside, video game maker Electronic Arts slid in pre-market trade despite reporting a smaller-than-expected drop in quarterly profit and revenue.

Earnings are due before the opening bell from Humana and Clorox. Time Warner, Kate Spade and Office Depot are also slated to report on Wednesday.