US equities open higher, lifted by oil rally and disappointing ADP report

Major US equity indices opened modestly higher on Wednesday amid optimism led by upbeat oil prices, which boosted energy shares and disappointing ADP report that seems to have faded expectations of an earlier than expected Fed rate-hike action. 

At the time of reporting, the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained over 80 point and rose to 18,250 and the broader S&P 500 index was up 8 point to 2,160. Meanwhile, tech-heavy Nasdaq composite inched higher by 18 points and moved back above 5,300 mark.

ADP report released earlier on Wednesday showed US private sector added 154K jobs during the month of September. The headline number was much lower-than 175K in August and fell short of market expectations of 166K jobs. ADP report is an important indicator or the US labor-market health and hence, helps investors to anticipate the official non-farm payrolls data. Meanwhile, the US trade deficit increased $40.7 billion in August from $39.5 billion deficit recorded in July. 

Investors now await the release of ISM non-manufacturing (services) PMI for September, which would one of the most important data from today's economic docket.