Stocks set for slight bounce up

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — U.S. stocks were set for a higher open Wednesday, as investors relaxed a little following a big selloff on renewed concerns about oil and the Libyan conflict.

Dow Jones industrial average (INDU), S&P 500 (SPX) and Nasdaq (COMP) futures were higher ahead of the opening bell. Futures measure current index values against perceived future performance.

Joel Kruger, an analyst at DailyFX who focuses on European markets, said Wall Street is still dealing with “fear and risk aversion,” because of political turmoil in oil-producing nations in North Africa — particularly Libya — which “doesn’t seem to be going away.”

But stock futures are getting some relief on Wednesday, because of assurances from the International Energy Agency and Shell Oil officials, “that Saudi Arabia and other countries have spare capacity to easily offset Libyan shortfalls.”

U.S. stocks dropped Tuesday, with all three major indexes down more than 1%, as oil prices spiked to nearly $100 a barrel.

The sell-off came as oil prices for April delivery continued to head higher, climbing $2.66 to settle at $99.63 a barrel, amid renewed violence in Libya and tension throughout the Middle East and North Africa.

World markets: World markets fell sharply Wednesday, a day after the big U.S. selloff, as forces loyal to leader Moammar Gadhafi attacked rebels in eastern Libya.

European stocks slumped at midsession. Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.7%, the DAX in Germany lost 0.8% and France’s CAC 40 fell 1%.

Asian markets ended sharply lower. The Shanghai Composite slid 0.2%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong tumbled 1.5% and Japan’s Nikkei sank 2.4%.

Economy: Two jobs-related economic reports are on tap Wednesday.

A report on planned jobs cuts in February comes out from Challenger, Gray & Christmas at 7:30 a.m. ET. It will be followed by the ADP private-sector jobs report at 8:15 a.m.

Economists are looking for the ADP report to show that private businesses hired 163,000 new workers last month, down from 187,000 in January.

A crude oil inventory report will be released at 10:30 a.m. ET, followed by the Fed’s Beige Book — a reading of the economic situation from the regional Fed banks — at 2 p.m. ET.

Companies: Shares of Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) were up almost 1% Wednesday morning, as investors anticipate the company’s iPad 2 announcement at 1 p.m. ET.

Warehouse retailer Costco (COST, Fortune 500) reported second-quarter earnings of $348 million, or 79 cents a share. Revenue jumped 11.3% year-over-year to $20.88 billion, slightly beating expectations. Shares edged lower in premarket trading.

Shares of Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) climbed about 4% before the opening bell, amid reports that the online portal company is in talks to sell its 30% stake in its Yahoo! Japan venture.

Currencies and commodities: The dollar fell against the euro and the British pound, but rose slightly versus the Japanese yen.

Oil for April delivery rose 18 cents to $99.82 a barrel, having reached as high as $100.64 on the reports of violence in Libya.

Gold futures for April delivery touched an intraday record of $1,435.30 an ounce, before before easing to $1,432.80 Wednesday morning. That was $1.60 higher than the record settlement high set Tuesday.

Bonds: The price on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury fell, pushing the yield up to 3.42% from 3.40% late Tuesday.  

First Published: March 2, 2011: 6:22 AM ET