U.S. stock index futures indicated a flat-to-lower open Wednesday following the release of the ADP's private sector payroll report.
Job creation at the company level rose about in line with expectations in August, despite weakness in manufacturing and construction, according to the latest report from ADP and Moody's Analytics.
Companies added 177,000 positions for the month, just above Wall Street expectations for 175,000.
The repor is seen as a kind of warm-up to government employment figures with August's nonfarm numbers expected this Friday. The data have taken on greater importance since several Federal Reserve members opened the door to hiking interest rates in September at the Jackson Hole symposium last week.
Economists expect ADP to report 175,000 private sector payrolls were added in August. ADP payrolls totaled 179,000 last month, while the government report was 255,000. Economists expect to see 180,000 jobs in the government report Friday.
Investors will also receive pending home sales data at 10 a.m. ET and a Chicago PMI Index at 9:45 a.m. ET.
On Tuesday, U.S. stocks closed lower with utilities falling 1 percent, as investors analyzed strong consumer data while keeping an eye on the Federal Reserve ahead of Friday's jobs report.
Sentiment was weak in Europe and Asia on the last trading day of the month. Japanese shares gained on the back of a weaker yen on Wednesday, but traders were mainly focusing on the key August U.S. nonfarm payroll data due Friday.
—CNBC's Fred Imbert, Jeff Cox and Patti Domm contributed to this article.