Wall Street eyes rebound amid data and spiking yields

Wall Street eyes rebound amid data and spiking yields

U.S. stock index futures pointed to a firm open for Wall Street shares Wednesday, following the previous day's sharp falls and amid key data releases as Treasury yields held near recent highs.

The ADP Employment Report showed 169,000 jobs were created in April, below expectations.

The report, which could foreshadow Friday's employment report, was expected to record a modest rise in the rate of job creation to around 200,000 in April, according to analysts.

Unit labor costs for the first quarter rose 5 percent but productivity fell 1.9 percent , a touch more than the expected 1.8 percent decline. The report is central to the Federal Reserve's assessment of underlying price pressures.

"That's not a good combination-productivity low and unit labor costs high," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital. That could "increase inflation down the road."

Read More Higher rates sting stocks; markets await job data

Yields on the 10-year U.S. Treasury pared gains to trade around 2.20 on Wednesday, slightly below levels seen Tuesday after major data releases.

The rise in yields hurt weekly mortgage applications , with total volume falling 4.6 percent on a seasonally adjusted basis for the week ended May 1, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

Other key events include a panel discussion between Fed chief Janet Yellen and International Monetary Fund Managing Director Christine Lagarde on monetary policy at 9:15 a.m. ET in Washington.

Major earnings due on Wednesday include SodaStream (NASDAQ: SODA), Wendy's (NASDAQ: WEN), GlaxoSmithKline (London Stock Exchange: GSK-GB) before market open. Activision Blizzard (NASDAQ: ATVI), 21st Century Fox (NASDAQ: FOXA), Tesla Motors (NASDAQ: TSLA), Whole Foods (NASDAQ: WFM) all report after the bell.

GlaxoSmithKline reported revenue in line with estimates, but earnings short of forecasts. Glaxo had better than expected results for vaccines and consumer health care, but pharmaceuticals were a drag on profits.

Wendy's earned an adjusted 6 cents per share for its latest quarter, one cent above estimates, though revenue was below forecasts. The fast food chain also announced plans to sell its bakery operations during this quarter, and will refinance its existing debt.

Mylan reported adjusted quarterly profit of 70 cents per share, one cent above estimates. Revenue was below estimates, impacted by the strong dollar. Activity in Mylan's stock has been driven recently by a three-way takeover battle in which it is trying to buy Perrigo while fending off a takeover bid from Teva.

News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWSA) missed estimates by a penny with adjusted quarterly profit of five cents per share, with revenue essentially in line. The Wall Street Journal owner was hurt by foreign currency issues as well as a drop in newspaper ad sales.

Salesforce (NYSE: CRM) is on watch once again today on takeover talk, with Bloomberg reporting that Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) is considering a bid for the provider of customer service software.

American Express (NYSE: AXP) was upgraded to "outperform" from "market perform" at Bernstein, which said the company's risk/reward is "dramatically skewed" to the upside.

Read More Early movers: GEVA, MGI, JPM, WEN, NWSA & more

European equities were higher in morning trade on Wednesday as investors reacted to a slew of earnings reports and new economic data.

U.S. stocks closed about 1 percent lower on Tuesday as investors eyed higher bond yields, mixed domestic data and renewed concerns over Greece. The tech-heavy Nasdaq (NASDAQ: .NDX) under-performed, falling about 1.5 percent to close below 5,000.

Oil prices were also in focus after gaining more than $1 to hit a fresh 2015 high on Wednesday, continuing a month-long rally that has been supported by a weaker dollar and a disruption to crude exports from Libya.

Brent crude traded close to $69 a barrel, while U.S. crude traded higher at $61.77 a barrel.

Read More 'Flash crash' 5 years later: What have we learned?

Wednesday also marks the fifth anniversary of the 'flash crash' that sent the Dow Jones industrial average briefly down nearly 1,000 points and remains under investigation.

-CNBC's Peter Schacknow contributed to this report.



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