US stock futures are tracking lower in Wednesday's premarket session as investors parse developments in the Middle East and look ahead to key employment, manufacturing, and oil inventory data coming out later in the morning.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were off 0.3%, S&P 500 futures were down 0.2%, and Nasdaq futures were 0.43% lower.
Oil prices were moving lower, with front-month global benchmarks Brent crude declining 0.86% to $72.32 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate crude was down 0.50% to $69.15 a barrel.
The ADP National Employment Report for June, which gauges the monthly change in non-farm, private employment, is set for release at 8:30 am ET. Analysts expect June employment will decline to 120,000 from 122,000 in May, according to Bloomberg.
June's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, which tracks the activity level of purchasing managers in the manufacturing sector, will be released at 9:45 am ET. Analysts expect the index to remain unchanged at 55.7, according to Bloomberg. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below 50 indicates contraction.
At 10:30 am ET, the US Energy Information Administration will release crude oil inventories, which tracks the weekly change in the number of barrels of commercial crude oil held by US firms.