US equity futures maintained a steady course before the opening bell on Wednesday, with traders observing the scene from the sidelines amid rising tensions in the Middle East. The Dow Jones Industrial Average futures, S&P 500 futures, and Nasdaq futures all recorded a slight decline of around 0.2%. Investors are acting with caution, keenly anticipating possible retaliation from Tel Aviv following Iran's launch of ballistic missiles aimed at Israel on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, oil prices experienced a notable increase, with global benchmark North Sea Brent crude gaining 2.5%, now priced at $75.40 per barrel, and US West Texas Intermediate crude rising by 2.7% to $71.74 per barrel. In terms of employment, private payrolls based on the ADP Institute's employment report, released at 8:15 am ET, showed a rise of 143,000 in September, following a previous increase of 103,000 in August.
This figure surpassed estimates compiled by Bloomberg, which predicted a smaller gain of 125,000. Among global markets, Japan's Nikkei faced a decline of 2.2%, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index saw a significant increase of 6.2% after a holiday on Tuesday. In Europe, the UK's FTSE 100 experienced a slight uptick of 0.1%, whereas Germany's DAX index fell by 0.6% in early afternoon trading.
Turning to individual equities, shares of Humana ($HUM) faced a sharp decline of nearly 20% in pre-market trading after the company disclosed, in a Form 8-K filing, that the percentage of its Medicare Advantage membership enrolled in plans rated four stars and above for 2025 plummeted from 94% to merely 25%.
In a similar vein, Nike ($NKE) shares fell by 7% following the company's report of lower fiscal Q1 earnings and revenue, while Lamb Weston ($LW) shares dropped by 4.5% after the company revised its fiscal 2025 profit guidance downward. Conversely, on the positive side, Fangdd Network Group ($DUO) saw its shares soar by 29% in pre-bell trading.
The Chinese property technology firm announced its intention to sell approximately 1.6 million class A ordinary shares at a price of $1.55 each in a registered direct offering..