Stock Futures Hold Gains After ADP Data

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Stock futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street Wednesday even after a worse-than-expected jobs number in the U.S. as China's new leadership spoke of supportive measures for the Chinese economy.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average were rising 47 points, or 46.22 points above fair value, at 12,980. Futures for the S&P 500 were up 2.90 points, or 3.25 points above fair value, at 1408. Futures for the Nasdaq were up 2.25 points, or 2.06 points above fair value, at 2666.

In advance of China's central economic planning talks this month, the new Chinese Communist Party chief Xi Jinping said that more infrastructure investment, tax reform and giving the market a greater role in setting prices were among the top issues to address.

Major U.S. stock averages slumped Tuesday as eurozone troubles continued to fester amid a finance ministers meeting and signs of gridlock in the U.S. "fiscal cliff" talks.

"The rest of the year will be characterized as a gamble between those investors who believe there will be a (fiscal cliff) solution and those who believe there won't be a solution," said Jeffrey Sica, manager of SICA Wealth Management. "The overwhelming majority of investors will opt to 'sit out' the speculation, and wait for some clear direction. The market will temporarily be under the influence of short-term traders, cuing off small indications of a direction by analyzing every word spoken, and taking positions either as buyers or sellers. Until a compromise is reached, determining short-term market direction will be near impossible."

Before the market open, Automatic Data Processing's employment change report showed an addition of 118,000 jobs in the U.S. in November, down from a downwardly revised 157,000 in October as Hurricane Sandy "wreaked havoc" on the job market in November, slicing an estimated 86,000 jobs from payrolls, the report said.

Economists were expecting the addition of 125,000 jobs.

The manufacturing, retailing, leisure and hospitality, and temporary help industries were hit particularly hard by the storm, according to the report.

"Abstracting from the storm, the job market turned in a good performance during the month," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics in a press release. "This is especially impressive given the uncertainty created by the Presidential election and the fast-approaching fiscal cliff. Businesses appear to be holding firm on their hiring and firing decisions."

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