Stock futures were mixed in early morning trading Wednesday after the Dow Jones Industrial Average notched a record close the previous day as investors flocked to shares that stand to benefit from an economic recovery.
Futures for the 30-stock index dipped 22 points, or 0.1%, to 36,652.
Futures for the S&P 500 fell 5.75 points, or 0.1%, to 4,778.50.
Futures for the NASDAQ declined 69.5 points, or 0.4%, to 16,206.25.
Early losers included Dow component Salesforce, which fell more than 2% in pre-market trading following a downgrade from UBS, which also cut Adobe, sending its shares down 1.8%.
Markets also faced pressure from stocks associated with the economic reopening: Wynn Resorts fell 2%, while Las Vegas Sands was off 1.5%. With COVID cases rising, pharma companies were under pressure, with Regeneron down 3% following a downgrade from Bank of America.
Bank of America gave an upgrade to Pfizer, however, noting that the company's profits from COVID treatments provide upside for the stock. Shares moved 1.7% higher in pre-market trading.
The moves come as investors look for clues on where the economy stood heading into the New Year.
ADP's monthly private payrolls count proved to be 807,000 for December, well ahead of the Dow Jones estimate for 375,000 and the November gain of 505,000. The report comes ahead of Friday's more closely watched non-farm payrolls count, which is expected to show a gain of 422,000.
Investors also awaited the release of minutes from the December Federal Reserve meeting. Policymakers decided then to accelerate the pace of the monthly bond buying taper and indicated that three quarter-percentage-point interest rate hikes are coming in 2022. They also adjusted their outlook on inflation and economic growth.
Overseas, markets in Japan were stable, with the Nikkei 225 inching up 0.1% Wednesday, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong plummeted 1.6%.
Oil prices gained 22 cents to $77.21 U.S. a barrel.
Gold prices gathered $3.60 to $1,818.20 U.S. an ounce.