Wall Street poised for early gains
Futures advance ahead of crude supply report; reading on private sector employment shows weakness.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Stock futures rose Wednesday morning, as investors set their sights on extending the previous session's recovery.
At 9 a.m. ET, Nasdaq and S&P futures were higher, with a comparison to fair value suggesting a positive open for Wall Street.
Stocks ended Tuesday's session higher after General Motors reported June auto sales that were not as bad had been expected.
The mood, however, could change with the release of a report on crude supplies; the ADP report on private sector employment showed continuing weakness.
Energy Oil prices pushed higher Wednesday amid fears of tightening supplies. U.S. crude for August delivery fell 24 cents to $140.73 a barrel in electronic trading.
Traders are awaiting a weekly inventory report from the U.S. Department of Energy.
Analysts surveyed by energy research firm Platts expect the report to show crude oil stocks fell 1.2 million barrels last week and gasoline stocks fell 500,000 barrels.
Distillate stocks, which include diesel fuel and heating oil, were forecast to have increased 2.4 million barrels in the week ended June 27.
The stockpile report comes a day after the International Energy Agency said in a report that oil demand is likely to grow, despite surging prices.
Economy Payroll services firm ADP reported the number of private sector jobs fell by 79,000, with the majority of losses stemming from the manufacturing sector.
Economists polled by Briefing.com had expected jobs to decline by 20,000 in June
The ADP report comes ahead of the government's monthly payrolls report, which is due out on Thursday.
Company news Merrill Lynch downgraded General Motors (GM, Fortune 500) to "underperform" from "buy" and lowered their price target for the automaker to $7 from $28 per share.
The downgrade comes one day after GM reported that sales in June fell 18%, which was better than the 25% decline that analysts had forecast.
Still, GM's performance was strong enough for it to maintain its title as the No. 1 automaker in terms of U.S. sales.
Health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH, Fortune 500) cut its profit outlook for the year on reduced commercial business and higher-than-expected Medicare-related costs.
The company now forecasts 2008 adjusted profit of $2.95 to $3.05 per share on revenue in the $81 billion range, down from prior estimates of $3.55 to $3.60 per share.
Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500) is still interested in Yahoo's (YHOO, Fortune 500) search business and has talked with a variety of media firms about teaming up for a deal that would eventually lead to a break up of Yahoo, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Blockbuster (BBI, Fortune 500) said late Tuesday that it is abandoning its bid to buy Circuit City Stores (CC, Fortune 500).
Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) plans to close 600 stores, or about 8.5% of its total stores. The move is part of the coffee retailer's plan to turn around its business, which has been hit by the consumer slowdown.
Other markets In global trade, stocks in Japan ended the session lower for a 10th straight session. European shares rose in midday trading.
Bond prices rose early Wednesday, with the 10-year note adding 5/32 to yield 3.98%, unchanged from 3.98% on Tuesday. 
