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Almost every Fed policymaker said Trump's promises of tax cuts,
infrastructure spending and deregulation could stoke higher
inflation, according to minutes of the Fed's Dec. 13-14 meeting.
Still, U.S. stocks ended close to record levels on Wednesday,
suggesting the market's resilience to the central bank's
concerns - a sharp contrast to last year when investors hung on
to its every word.
U.S. stocks have rallied for nearly two months since Trump's
victory, taking the Dow tantalizingly close to the historic
20,000 mark.
The AD private payrolls number is expected to have fallen to
170,000 in December after clocking 216,000 the previous month.
The report is closely watched as it precedes the more
comprehensive non-farm payrolls report on Friday. The ADP data
is due at 8:15 a.m. ET (1315 GMT).
Other data on tap includes the ISM non-manufacturing PMI index
and weekly jobless claims.
Oil prices edged up 0.7 percent after reports that Saudi Arabia
had started talks with customers about a reduction in crude
sales in February to support an attempt by OPEC to reduce global
supply. [O/R]
Department store stocks took a beating in premarket trading.
Macy's dropped 9.6 percent and Kohl's 15 percent after both cut
profit forecasts due to weak holiday sales.
Alexion Pharma rose nearly 5 percent to $133.40 after the
drugmaker said it saw no need to restate its previously issued
results, following an investigation related to sales practices
of its blood disorder drug Soliris.
Dow component Travelers dropped nearly 9 percent to $109.65
after Morgan Stanley downgraded the property and casualty
insurer's stock to "underweight".
(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by
Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)
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