Futures Pointing To Early Weakness On Wall Street

(RTTNews) - After ending the two previous sessions sharply higher, stocks may give back some ground in early trading on Wednesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a lower open for the markets, with the Dow futures down by 31 points.

A pullback by the price of crude oil may contribute to early weakness on Wall Street after higher oil prices contributed to the strength seen in the two previous sessions.

Crude oil for March delivery is currently tumbling $1.84 to $51.21 a barrel after rallying $3.48 to $53.05 a barrel on Tuesday. The price increase in the previous session lifted oil to its highest closing level of the New Year.

Early selling pressure may also be generated by the release of a report from payroll processor ADP showing that private sector employment in the U.S. rose by less than expected in the month of January.

ADP said private sector employment increased by 213,000 jobs in January following an upwardly revised increase of 253,000 jobs in December.

Economists had expected employment to climb by about 223,000 jobs compared to the addition of 241,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.

The disappointing data may raise some concerns about Friday's employment report from the Labor Department, which includes both public and private sector jobs.