By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch

China cuts reserve-requirement for banks, sparking gold gains

MADRID (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures failed to gather momentum as investors struck a more cautious investing tone Wednesday, a day after the Dow industrials enjoyed a monster rally fueled, in part, by a sharp rebound in crude-oil futures.

On Wednesday, oil was relinquishing some of its big Tuesday gains.

Investors are awaiting a private-sector payrolls survey and data that will gauge the health of the U.S. services sector. Whirlpool Corp. is up early on results, while General Motors Co. and Merck & Co. Inc. are still to come.

In choppy trade, futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJH5) fell 34 points to 17,537, while those for the S&P 500 index (SPH5) fell 7.1 points to 2,035. Futures for the Nasdaq-100 index (NDH5) dropped 15 points, or 0.4%, to 4,201.50. Losses pared some after the People's Bank of China announced a cut in its reserve-ratio requirement.

A rally for oil prices, and hence energy names, triggered the biggest gain in more than three weeks for the Dow industrials (DJI)(DJI) on Tuesday. The S&P 500 (SPX) jumped 1.4%, and the Nasdaq Composite (RIXF) gained 1.1%.

But putting another day of big gains for stocks at risk was the fact that oil prices were backing off Wednesday, with March WTI crude (CLH5) dropping over 3% and Brent crude down more than 2%. Losses came after data released late Tuesday showed a big inventory build.

Need to Know: Careful what you wish for: Oil-price recovery may well sting

Investors are also watching for the ADP employment report for January, ahead of Friday's nonfarm-payrolls report. That ADP data is due at 8:15 a.m. Eastern Time, and then at 10 a.m. Eastern, the ISM nonmanufacturing survey for January will be released.

A market battleground: Expect a "battle of the bulls and bears" for Wednesday, said Michael O'Rourke, chief market strategist with JonesTrading. He notes that so far in 2015, the S&P 500 has been range-bound, with 1,980-1,990 as support and 2,050 -2,060 as resistance.

Tuesday's close at 2,050 will have bulls "pushing for the technical breakout" on Wednesday, despite the fact that positive drivers are getting smaller and smaller on a daily basis, he said. "With the growing list of negatives, we are continually amazed at how many opportunities this market is giving investors to de-risk within 2% of the all-time high," O'Rourke said in a note.

Stocks in the spotlight: Whirlpool(WHR) was up in premarket after posting better-than-expected sales. Boston Scientific Corp. (BSX) met forecasts for earnings, but fell short on sales.

Still to come, General Motors (GM.XX) is projected to report fourth-quarter earnings of 83 cents a share. Clorox Co.(CLX) is also ahead.

Merck (MRK) was down as it released results.

Finally getting the deal done: Staples Inc.(SPLS) said it will buy Office Depot Inc.(ODP) in an acquisition valued at $6.3 billion. Staple was down over 2% on that news.

Walt Disney Co.(DIS) is up 4% after earnings beat forecasts. On the losing side, Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc.(CMG) is down over 6% after profit jumped but sales fell short of expectations late Tuesday. Gilead Sciences Inc.(GILD) is off 6% after it reported earnings that beat forecasts, but said it expects price discounts for its hepatitis C drugs to double in 2015.

See more after-hours action in Movers & Shakers

China cuts reserve requirement for banks: The Nikkei 225 index saw its biggest gain in two weeks on upbeat earnings. Well after the close for Chinese stocks, which ended the day lower, the People's Bank of China cut its reserve ratio for banks by 0.5%. Among the reactions, gold (GCH5) and copper (HGH5) prices moved higher.

The Stoxx Europe 600 index was largely flat after sizable gains on Tuesday, led by a 11% surge for Greek stocks. The Athens Composite Index was down 1.6% as Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis sought a debt deal with greater leniency on repayments.

Read: European stocks mixed as Greece continues debt push

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