Investing.com - U.S. stock markets pointed to a lower open on Wednesday, with the Dow on track for its eighth loss in a row, as investors eyed a fresh batch of corporate earnings reports, while awaiting key U.S. economic data.
The blue-chip Dow futures shed 33 points, or 0.18%, by 10:55GMT, or 6:55AM ET, the S&P 500 futures dipped 4 points, or 0.17%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures declined 9 points, or 0.18%.
U.S. equities suffered their worst day in roughly a month on Tuesday, in the wake of unconvincing economic data and falling oil prices.
Investors looked ahead to more U.S. data later in the session to gauge the health of the world's largest economy and whether it is strong enough to warrant an interest rate hike later this year.
The U.S. is due to release the ADP jobs report for July at 12:15GMT, or 8:15AM ET, with market analysts expecting a gain of 170,000 private sector payrolls.
At 14:00GMT, or 10:00AM ET, the U.S. Institute of Supply Management is to publish a report on service sector growth for July, amid expectations for a modest decline.
A recent string of disappointing U.S. data prompted market players to push back expectations for the next U.S. rate hike. Fed funds futures are currently pricing in just a 12% chance of a rate hike by September. December odds were at around 38%, compared to 53% at the start of last week.
There are also dozens of earnings Wednesday, including Time Warner Inc (NYSE:TWX), Humana (NYSE:HUM), Clorox Company (NYSE:CLX), Office Depot Inc (NASDAQ:ODP), Kate Spade & Co (NYSE:KATE) and Virtu Financial Inc (NASDAQ:VIRT) before the bell.
After the bell, reports are expected from Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA), First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR), Square (NYSE:SQ), Herbalife (NYSE:HLF), Western Union Company (NYSE:WU), MetLife (NYSE:MET), Prudential Financial (NYSE:PRU) and Allstate Corporation (NYSE:ALL).
Among active pre-market movers, Fitbit Inc (NYSE:FIT) saw shares climb more than 7% after the fitness-tracking wristband provider reported quarterly sales and earnings that beat projections late Tuesday.
Meanwhile, U.S.-based shares of HSBC Holdings (LON:HSBA) PLC (NYSE:HSBC) rose 4% after the British lender posted better than expected quarterly earnings.
Dutch bank ING Group (NYSE:ING) was up over 7% after it reported second-quarter underlying net result up nearly 27% year-on-year.
In Europe, stock markets traded mostly lower on Wednesday, as a rally by bank shares wasn’t enough to boost sentiment.
Earlier, Asian shares slipped on Wednesday, as sentiment took a hit following steep overnight losses on Wall Street. Japan's Nikkei tumbled almost 2% amid disappointment with the country's latest stimulus plan.
Elsewhere, oil prices inched higher, but held near April lows below the $40-level, as market players looked ahead to fresh weekly information on U.S. stockpiles of crude and refined products.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration will release its weekly report on oil supplies at 14:30GMT, or 10:30AM ET, Wednesday amid expectations for a drop of 1.4 million barrels.