Investing.com - U.S. stock markets pointed to a flat open on Wednesday morning, as investors focused on the next set of U.S. data to see whether it supports expectations that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates soon.
The blue-chip Dow futures inched down 11 points, or 0.06%, by 6:56AM ET (10:56GMT), the S&P 500 futures dipped 1 point, or 0.03%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures shed 2 points, or 0.04%.
U.S. stocks closed lower on Tuesday, after upbeat U.S. consumer confidence data added to speculation that the Federal Reserve is gearing up to hike interest rates as soon as next month.
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 175,000 private sector payrolls.
There is also Chicago PMI data at 9:45AM ET (13:45GMT) and a report on pending home sales at 10:00AM ET (14:00GMT).
Market players are also looking ahead to Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report, which could determine whether the Fed raises rates in September. The consensus forecast is that the data will show jobs growth of 180,000 in August, following an increase of 255,000 in the preceding month.
According to Investing.com's Fed Rate Monitor Tool, investors are pricing in a 27% chance of a rate hike by September. December odds were at around 56%.
On the earnings front, Salesforce.com (NYSE:CRM), Brown-Forman (NYSE:BFb) and Box (NYSE:BOX) are slated to release their latest quarterly results.
Among active pre-market movers, shares of Palo Alto Networks (NYSE:PANW) slumped almost 6% after the cybersecurity firm late Tuesday provided a downbeat outlook for the current quarter.
Shares of H&R Block (NYSE:HRB) dropped 5% after the tax services provider late Tuesday reported a wider than expected loss.
U.S.-listed shares of Germany's Deutsche Bank (NYSE:DB) rose 2.5% after a report said it was considering a merger with rival Commerzbank (DE:CBKG). However, Deutsche Bank chief executive John Cryan later shot down the idea of a merger.
Elsewhere, European and U.K. stock markets were mixed in choppy mid-morning trade Wednesday, as investors waited for U.S. nonfarm payroll numbers later this week for clues on the timing of a Federal Reserve rate hike.
Earlier, Asian shares closed mixed overnight, with Japan's Nikkei rising 1% as the yen weakened against the dollar.
The growing possibility for an imminent rate hike lifted the dollar to one-month highs against major currencies such as the yen and euro.
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback’s strength against a trade-weighted basket of six major currencies, was at 96.05 early Wednesday, after rising to 96.16 overnight, its highest since August 9.
Meanwhile, oil prices were down around 1% early on Wednesday, as market players awaited 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 10:30AM ET (14:30GMT) amid expectations for an increase of 921,000 barrels.