09:00 AM EST, 03/06/2024 (MT Newswires) -- US equity futures were higher before Wednesday's opening bell as traders digested labor market data and looked ahead to the first day of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimony before Congress.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures gained 0.4%, S&P 500 futures increased 0.6%, and Nasdaq futures were up 0.9%.

Oil prices were higher, with front-month global benchmark North Sea Brent crude up 0.9% and US West Texas Intermediate crude up 1.3%, after data from industry group American Petroleum Institute showed a smaller-than-expected weekly increase in US crude stockpiles. US crude stockpiles rose 0.423 million barrels last week, according to API, compared with the 2.6 million-barrel weekly increase seen by forecasters.

Private payrolls based on ADP Institute's employment report, released at 8:15 am ET, came in at a 140,000 increase for February, compared with January's 111,000 gain and estimates for 150,000.

Job openings based on the Labor Department's Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, to be released at 10:00 am ET, are expected at 8.8 million for January compared with December's 9.026 million.

Powell is scheduled to appear before the House Financial Services Committee at 10 am ET for the first day of his two-day semi-annual congressional testimony on monetary policy.

In other world markets, Japan's Nikkei closed 0.02% lower, Hong Kong's Hang Seng ended 1.7% higher, and China's Shanghai Composite finished 0.3% lower. Meanwhile, UK's FTSE 100 gained 0.3% and Germany's DAX index increased 0.1% in Europe's early afternoon session.

In equities, shares of Foot Locker ( FL ) were down more than 13% pre-bell after the company reported lower fiscal Q4 adjusted earnings. Entravision Communications ( EVC ) shares slumped 43% after the company posted a wider Q4 loss. Thor Industries ( THO ) shares fell 17% after reporting weaker fiscal Q2 financial results.

On the winning side, Creative Medical Technology Holdings ( CELZ ) shares rose 28% after the company said it received an orphan drug designation for CELZ-101 in key transplantation therapy. CrowdStrike Holdings ( CRWD ) shares were up 22% after the company reported higher fiscal Q4 non-GAAP earnings and revenue.