U.S. stock futures are pointing lower in pre-market trading for Wednesday, August 31. The Dow Futures are at 18432.0 for a loss of -12.00 points. The S&P 500 Futures are at 2174.25 for a loss of -1.00 point. The Nasdaq Futures are lower at 4773.75 for a loss of -2.25 points. The Russell Futures are lower at 1245.8 for a loss of -0.10 points.

In overnight trading in the Eastern Hemisphere, Japan’s Nikkei 225 is higher at 16887.40 for a gain of 162.04 points or 0.97 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index is at 22976.88 for a loss of -39.23 points or -0.17 percent. China’s Shanghai Composite is at 3085.49 for a gain of 10.81 points or 0.35 percent. India’s S&P BSE Sensex is at 28452.17 for a gain of 109.16 points or 0.39 percent. In Europe, the FTSE 100 is at 6803.16 for a loss of -17.63 points or -0.26 percent. Germany’s DAX is at 10642.87 for a loss of -14.77 points or -0.14 percent. France’s CAC 40 is at 4481.76 for a gain of 24.27 points or 0.54 percent. The Stoxx Europe 600 is at 345.51 for a gain of 0.76 points or 0.22 percent.

Wednesday’s Factors and Events

A number of reports are on the economic calendar for Wednesday. The day’s reports include MBA Mortgage Applications, the ADP Employment Report, the Chicago PMI, the Pending Home Sales Index, the EIA Petroleum Status Report and the August Farm Prices report. Federal Reserve officials Eric Rosengren, Neel Kashkari and Charles Evans will also be speaking Wednesday.

The day’s reports will likely help direct the market’s trading as investors look to preliminary numbers for Friday’s jobs report and try to get a gauge for the economic outlook.

Stocks trading actively in pre-market trading include the following:

Ulta Salon Cosmetics

Marathon Oil Corp

Bristol-Myers Squibb

VF Corp

Baker Hughes Inc

Mosaic Co

Interpublic Group

Prudential Financial

Regions Financial

Humana

Tuesday’s Activity

Stocks were lower on Tuesday. For the day the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 18454.30 for a loss of -48.69 points or -0.26 percent. The S&P 500 was also lower, closing at 2176.12 for a loss of -4.26 points or -0.20 percent. The Nasdaq Composite closed lower at 5222.99 for a loss of -9.34 points or -0.18 percent.

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Source: DJIA, S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite. Google Finance.

Other notable index closes included the small-cap Russell 2000 Index, higher at 1246.03 for a gain of 1.09 points or 0.09 percent; the S&P 600 Small-Cap Index higher at 756.46 for a gain of 0.28 points or 0.04 percent; the S&P 400 Mid-Cap Index at 1570.06 for a loss of -0.73 points or -0.05 percent; the S&P 100 Index at 961.78 for a loss of -1.77 points or -0.18 percent; the Russell 3000 Index at 1287.78 for a loss of -2.07 points or -0.16 percent. The Russell 1000 Index at 1205.91 for a loss of -2.19 points or -0.18 percent; and the Dow Jones U.S. Select Dividend Index at 615.43 for a loss of -3.18 points or -0.51 percent.