WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - After coming under pressure overnight, stock futures have shown a notable rebound over the course of the morning on Wednesday. The major index futures are currently pointing to a modestly higher open for the markets, with the Dow futures up by 11 points.
Selling pressure was generated last night following news Iran attacked Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops in retaliation for the U.S. killing of Quds Force Commander Qasem Soleimani last week.
Iran purportedly launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles at multiple targets, which initially raised concerns about an escalation of the confrontation between the U.S. and Iran.
However, preliminary reports said the attack did not kill or injure any Americans, leading some analysts to suggest Iran was seeking to make a show of force without ramping up the conflict.
'Iran took & concluded proportionate measures in self-defense,' Iran's Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said on Twitter. 'We do not seek escalation or war, but will defend ourselves against any aggression.'
President Donald Trump tweeted, 'All is well!' following the missile strikes and indicated he would make a statement about the attack sometime this morning.
The markets may also benefit from the release of a report from payroll processor ADP showing much stronger than expected private sector job growth in the month of December.
ADP said private sector employment surged up by 202,000 jobs in December after climbing by a substantially upwardly revised 124,000 jobs in November.
Economists had expected employment to increase by about 160,000 jobs compared to the addition of 67,000 jobs originally reported for the previous month.
On Friday, the Labor Department is scheduled to release its more closely watched monthly jobs report, which includes both public and private sector jobs.
Economists expect employment to increase by 160,000 jobs in December after spiking by 266,000 jobs in November, while the unemployment rate is expected to hold at 3.5 percent.
Following the rebound seen over the course of Monday's session, stocks turned in a relatively lackluster performance during trading on Tuesday. The Nasdaq spent the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line, although the Dow and the S&P 500 remained stuck in the red.
The major averages all eventually finished the day modestly lower. The Dow slid 119.70 points or 0.4 percent to 28,583.68, the Nasdaq edged down 2.88 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 9,068.58 and the S&P 500 fell 9.10 points or 0.3 percent to 3,237.18.
In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved mostly lower during trading on Wednesday. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index tumbled by 1.6 percent, while China's Shanghai Composite Index slumped by 1.2 percent.
Meanwhile, European stocks have moved mostly higher after the course of the session after seeing early weakness. The German DAX Index has climbed by 0.6 percent and the French CAC 40 Index has risen by 0.3 percent, although the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index is just below the unchanged line.
In commodities trading, crude oil futures are tumbling $0.94 to $61.76 a barrel after sliding $0.57 to $62.70 a barrel on Tuesday. Meanwhile, an ounce of gold is trading at $1,573.80, down $0.50 compared to the previous session's close of $1,574.30. On Tuesday, gold climbed $5.50.
On the currency front, the U.S. dollar is trading at 108.70 yen compared to the 108.44 yen it fetched at the close of New York trading on Tuesday. Against the euro, the dollar is trading at $1.1120 compared to yesterday's $1.1153.
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