U.S. stock futures were barely moving on Wednesday, failing to garner significant momentum from a report of monthly private-sector employment that came in line with Wall Street expectations. The U.S. economy added 177,000 private-sector jobs in August, compared with average estimates from economists polled by The Wall Street Journal of about 180,000. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average YMU6, -0.09% slipped 14 points to 18,429 while those for the S&P 500 index ESU6, -0.07% slipped 1.45 point to 2,173.75. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index NQU6, -0.08% edged 4 points lower to 4,772.00. –– ADVERTISEMENT –– The ADP data have arguably worked as a precursor for the more closely watched nonfarm-payrolls report out on Friday, but it hasn’t always been an accurate gauge of NFP. The muted trading Wednesday also comes after similar small moves on Tuesday, when investors weighed comments from Fed Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer about the timing of the next policy move. The S&P 500 index SPX, -0.20% closed down 0.2%, while the Dow average DJIA, -0.26% ended off 0.3%. “While markets start to obsess again about Friday’s jobs report, given Fed vice chair Stanley Fischer’s comments yesterday, today’s ADP employment report will once again be looked at as a bellwether for this number,� said Michael Hewson, chief market analyst at CMC Markets, in a note. “[That’s] despite the fact that there has been no correlation at all between the two reports in the last three months. While the ADP report has been broadly steady between 175k and 181k, between May and July, the Friday NFP report has been all over the map,� he added. Economic news: The Chicago purchasing managers index for August, out at 9:45 a.m. Eastern Time, and a reading on pending-homes sales for July, out at 10 a.m. Eastern. In Fed news, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren and Chicago Fed President Charles Evans both appeared at an event in Shanghai, China, and showed both sides of the Fed debate over raising interest rates.

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