By Peter Nurse
Investing.com - U.S. stocks are seen opening higher Wednesday, adding more gains to a positive August, ahead of the release of important private payrolls data.
At 7:05 AM ET (1105 GMT), the Dow Futures contract was up 110 points, or 0.3%, S&P 500 Futures traded 15 points, or 0.4%, higher, while Nasdaq 100 Futures climbed 35 points, or 0.2%.
The major indices all posted gains in August, with the broad-based S&P 500 climbing 2.9% and rising for the seventh month in a row. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained around 4% and the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average added 1.2%.
This week’s main focus remains Friday’s nonfarm payrolls data for August, as the strength of this release could influence the Federal Reserve’s decision on when to start running down its massive bond-buying program.
Economists are generally looking for 750,000 jobs to have been created last month, which would be a drop from July’s 943,000 but still one of the highest monthly gains on record.
Ahead of that, comes the release, at 8:15 AM ET (1215 GMT), of the ADP private payrolls number. This is expected to show that employment at private companies roared back in August, with 613,000 positions added, a spike from July’s 330,000.
In corporate news, Crowdstrike Holdings (NASDAQ:CRWD) will be in the spotlight Wednesday after the cybersecurity firm beat quarterly revenue and earnings expectations after the close Tuesday.
Additionally, earnings are expected from Campbell Soup (NYSE:CPB), before the open, and Brown Forman (NYSE:BFb), the maker of Jack Daniels whiskey and Finlandia vodka, after the bell.
Crude prices rose after OPEC+ raised its forecast for oil demand next year ahead of a meeting later Wednesday to decide future production levels.
The Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and their allies, a group known as OPEC+, is expected to confirm the addition of another 400,000 barrels per day of supply each month through December.
Ahead of this, Reuters reported that the group's experts have revised its 2022 oil demand growth forecast to 4.2 million barrels per day, up from the previous forecast of 3.28 million barrels per day.
Additionally, the U.S. Energy Information Administration will report its weekly U.S. crude supply data later this session, with the industry body the American Petroleum Institute detailing a draw of just over 4 million barrels on Tuesday.
By 7:05 AM ET, U.S. crude futures traded 0.1% higher at $68.56 a barrel, while the Brent contract rose 0.1% to $71.68.
Additionally, gold futures fell 0.1% to $1,816.45/oz, while EUR/USD traded 0.1% higher at 1.1820.