Wall St eyes higher open after fresh jobs data, Treasury yields retreat

By Ankika Biswas and Shashwat Chauhan

(Reuters) -Wall Street's main indexes were set for a higher open on Wednesday after data pointed to a cooling labor market, while a pullback in U.S. Treasury yields from their multi-year highs also supported investor sentiment.

The ADP (NASDAQ:ADP) National Employment report showed private payrolls rose 89,000 in September, much lower than the expected 153,000.

"This is further evidence that the Fed has done enough and they need to step away," said Thomas Hayes, chairman at Great Hill Capital LLC.

The latest data comes a day after U.S. job openings unexpectedly rose in August. All three major U.S. stock indexes ended more than 1% lower on Tuesday, with the Dow turning negative on a year-to-date basis for the first time since June.

Before coming off their highs on Wednesday, the 30-year Treasury yield crossed above 5% for the first time since August 2007, while the 10-year and five-year yields hit their highest since 2007.

Major growth stocks Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN), Nvidia and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) reversed course and edged 0.6% to 0.9% higher in premarket trading.

Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) shed 0.6% following a KeyBanc downgrade to "sector weight" from "overweight".

At 8:20 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 42 points, or 0.13%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 9 points, or 0.21%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 48.25 points, or 0.33%.

U.S. energy firms including Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM), Marathon Oil (NYSE:MRO) and Occidental Petroleum (NYSE:OXY) fell more than 1% each as crude prices fell on demand concerns.

The Institute for Supply Management's non-manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index, S&P Global (NYSE:SPGI)'s final composite and services PMI surveys, factory orders and remarks by Fed policymakers including Chicago President Austan Goolsbee and Board Governor Michelle Bowman will also be monitored during the day.

A handful of Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday ousted Republican Speaker Kevin McCarthy, as party infighting plunged Congress into further chaos just days after it narrowly averted a government shutdown.

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Chipmaker Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) gained 2.5% on Wednesday on plans to operate its programmable chip unit as a standalone business and hold a public offering for stock in the business over the next two to three years.