U.S. Stocks May Regain Ground Amid Surge By Alphabet

(RTTNews) - Stocks are likely to move to the upside in early trading on Wednesday, regaining ground following the pullback seen over the two previous sessions. The major index futures are currently pointing to a higher open for the markets, with the S&P 500 futures up by 0.4 percent.

Alphabet (GOOGL) may help lead an early rebound on Wall Street, as the Google parent is surging by 6.9 percent in pre-market trading.

The spike by shares of Alphabet comes after a federal judge ruled the company will avoid the most severe consequences in a landmark antitrust case.

U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled Google will not be required to divest its Chrome browser nor a contingent divestiture of the Android operating system.

"Plaintiffs overreached in seeking forced divestiture of these key assets, which Google did not use to effect any illegal restraints," Mehta said.

Shares of Apple (AAPL) have also jumped by 3.7 percent in pre-market trading, as the decision allows the tech giant to continue to preload Google Search onto its iPhones.

Overall trading activity may be somewhat subdued, however, as some traders may be reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the release of closely watched jobs data later in the week.

Shortly after the start of trading, The Commerce Department is due to release its report on new orders for manufactured goods in the month of July. Factory orders are expected to slump by 1.4 percent in July after tumbling by 4.8 percent in June.

The Labor Department is also scheduled to release its report on job openings in the month of July. Job openings are expected to decrease to 7.375 million in July after falling to 7.437 million in June.

After initially showing a significant move to the downside, stocks regained some ground over the course of the trading day on Tuesday but remained firmly negative. The major averages all moved notably lower, extending the pullback seen during last Friday's session.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq slumped 175.92 points or 0.8 percent to 21,279.63 but had tumbled by as much as 1.5 percent in early trading. The S&P 500 slid 44.72 points or 0.7 percent to 6,415.54, while the Dow fell 249.07 points or 0.6 percent to 42,295.81.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index declined by 0.9 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index tumbled by 1.2 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the upside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index is up by 0.9 percent, the German DAX Index is up by 0.7 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is up by 0.4 percent.

In commodities trading, crude oil futures are plunging $1.48 to $64.11 a barrel after surging $1.58 to $65.59 a barrel on Tuesday. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is trading at $3,613.60, up $21.40 compared to the previous session's close of $3,592.20. On Tuesday, gold spiked $76.10.

On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 148.65 yen compared to the 148.36 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Tuesday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1650 compared to yesterday's $1.1640.