Stocks fall ahead of jobs report

US stock futures fell sharply on Wednesday morning as investors awaited the latest labour market assessment.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 350 points, or 1.02%, while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 1.21% and 1.4% respectively.

Private sector hiring is expected to rise in September. Analysts polled by Refinitiv expect the ADP employment report to show an increase of 425,000 workers. The report is due out at 8:15 a.m. ET.

As for stocks, companies owning big tech companies were under pressure again a day after bouncing back after Monday's sharp sell-off. That came as social media giant Facebook Inc. remained in the spotlight a day after a whistleblower testified about the harmful effects of its platform.

Elsewhere, Palantir Technologies Inc. was awarded an $823 million contract for a US Army intelligence programme.

Nvidia Corp. made undisclosed concessions to EU regulators when it considered a $54 billion deal to buy British chipmaker Arm Ltd.

Constellation Brands Inc. plans to report before the first bell, while Levi Strauss Co. will release its quarterly results after markets close.

On the commodities side, West Texas Intermediate crude fell 43 cents to $78.50 a barrel and gold fell $10.10 to $1,750.80 an ounce.

External markets were weaker across the board.

In Europe, Germany's DAX 30 was down 2.37%, while France's CAC 40 and Britain's FTSE 100 were down 2.27% and 1.80% respectively.

Japan's Nikkei 225 was down 1.05% and Hong Kong's Hang Seng was down 0.57%. China's Shanghai Composite remained closed due to the weekend.