Wall Street is likely to remain hesitant on Wednesday morning, as the announcement of a slowdown in private-sector hiring has reassured investors, while the Fed is due to announce its decisions in the afternoon.

Half an hour before the opening, the Dow Jones futures contract is down 0.1%, while the Nasdaq 100 is down more than 0.9%, heralding a session start with little direction.

The main factor supporting the trend was the survey published this morning by ADP, which showed that the US private sector generated just 107,000 new jobs in January.

This figure was well below economists' expectations of around 150,000, but also down sharply on the previous month's figure of 158,000.

As a consequence, this worse-than-expected statistic has rekindled hopes that the Fed may soon have to ease its monetary policy.

In this respect, CME's Fedwatch barometer now anticipates a Fed rate cut of 25 basis points in March, with a 48.6% probability, compared with 40.4% yesterday.

While waiting for more clarity on the macroeconomic outlook, investors will turn their eyes to the Fed's statement, to be released early this afternoon.

Traders are hoping that the US central bank will give clues to possible monetary easing in the coming months.

Earnings releases continue to set the pace.

Microsoft and Alphabet reported solid fourth-quarter results last night, but their shares were subject to profit-taking after their exceptional performances in recent months.

At yesterday's closing prices, the two technology groups - which are part of the "Magnificent Seven" - were up by more than 20% and 22% respectively on the stock market over the last three months.

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