WALL Street's main indexes were set to inch up at open on Wednesday as fresh economic data indicated a cooling U.S. economy, keeping alive hopes the Federal Reserve could pause rate hikes in September.

       The ADP National Employment report showed private payrolls increased by 177,000 jobs in August, compared with estimates of 195,000, signaling an easing labor market.

       Investors also took comfort in fresh gross domestic product (GDP) numbers that showed the U.S. economy expanded 2.1% in the second quarter, slower than a preliminary estimate of a 2.4% growth.

       "Those reports (private payrolls and GDP) were really actually positive for the market, even though they were a little soft," said Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments.

       "The market thinks the Fed almost certainly won't raise (rate) in September and they have a couple of options left on the table for the end of the year."

       Traders' bets on the Fed leaving interest rates unchanged in September stood at nearly 91%, up from 88.5% before the data, according to the CME FedWatch tool.

       Investors now await the personal consumption expenditures price index, the Fed's preferred measure of inflation, and non-farm payroll numbers due on Thursday and Friday, respectively, for more clues on interest rates.

       StarPicks

       Sparking Change Through Art

       The 10-year Treasury yield eased to 4.10%, supporting some growth stocks, with Nvidia, Apple and Alphabet edging up between 0.2% and 0.7%.

       U.S.-listed shares of Chinese companies including PDD Holdings, JD.com, Baidu and Alibaba fell between 1.8% and 1% on concerns over the country's property market and trade relations between Washington and Beijing.

       U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo talked up American firms' desire to do business in China after having labeled it "uninvestible".

       At 8:46 a.m. ET, Dow e-minis were up 29 points, or 0.08%, S&P 500 e-minis were up 1.75 points, or 0.04%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were up 10.25 points, or 0.07%.

       Shares of HP Inc slid 8.3% in premarket trading as the personal computer maker trimmed its annual forecast due to slowing demand.

       Rite Aid dropped 6.2% after S&P Global Ratings downgraded the drug retailer on increased restructuring risks.

       Texas Instruments fell 1.7% after Bernstein downgraded the analog chipmaker to "underperform" from "market perform".

       Brown-Forman fell 3.5% after the Jack Daniels whiskey maker missed its first-quarter sales and profit estimates. - Reuters