Dow Waits for Direction Ahead of a Busy Economic Day

Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:DJI) are little changed this morning, in the wake of Tuesday's record-setting settlement. With little in the way of earnings reports to digest, Wall Street will await direction from today's raft of economic data. Specifically, productivity and labor costs, the Institute for Supply Management's (ISM) non-manufacturing index, and the Fed's Beige Book are all on the day's docket. Additionally, traders will digest the Automatic Data Processing (ADP) private payrolls update, which is often seen as a precursor to Friday's all-important jobs report.

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Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) are 3 points above fair value.

Market Statistics

The Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) saw 953,300 call contracts traded Tuesday, compared to 615,297 put contracts. The resultant single-session equity put/call ratio rose to 0.65, while the 21-day moving average edged higher to 0.60.

Currencies and Commodities

• The U.S. dollar index is up 0.2% at 88.82.
• Crude oil is poised to erase a portion of yesterday's losses, up 0.3% at $67.07 per barrel.
• Elsewhere, gold is on pace to take back the highly watched $1,200 level, and was last seen 0.3% higher at $1,202.90 per ounce.

Earnings and Economic Data

The Federal Reserve's Beige Book, productivity and labor costs, the monthly ADP employment report, the ISM non-manufacturing index, and the regularly scheduled crude inventories come out today. For earnings, Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF), Aeropostale (ARO), Avago Tech (AVGO), Guess? (GES), and PVH (PVH) will report.

Overseas Trading

Asian stocks finished mostly higher today, following yesterday's record-setting run on Wall Street. A rebound in Beijing's non-manufacturing purchasing managers index (PMI) also helped buoy investor sentiment. By the close, China's Shanghai Composite was up 0.6%, to settle at a fresh three-year high, Japan's Nikkei tacked on 0.3% to close at a seven-year peak, and South Korea's Kospi added 0.2%. Meanwhile, Hong Kong's Hang Seng bucked the regional bullish trend to end 1% lower.

Markets in Europe are mixed at midday, as traders digest news of a nuclear power plant accident in southeast Ukraine, as well as a report that showed business activity in the eurozone plunged to a 16-month low in November. At last check, the German DAX is 0.2% higher, the French CAC 40 is flirting with a 0.2% loss, and London's FTSE 100 is down 0.3%.

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