U.S. stocks rebound ahead of Fed Beige Book

U.S. stocks traded higher in the morning session Wednesday following the deep decline of the previous day, as Wall Street was digesting mixed economic data ahead of Federal Reserve's Beige Book.

By noon, the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 104.39 points, or 0.65 percent, to 16,162.74. The S&P 500 gained 8.78 points, or 0.46 percent, to 1,922.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 36.25 points, or 0.78 percent, to 4,672.36.

U.S. nonfarm business sector labor productivity increased at a 3.3-percent annual rate during the second quarter of 2015, beating market expectations of 2.8 percent, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

Meanwhile, U.S. private sector employment added 190,000 jobs from July to August, missing market consensus of 210,000, according to the August ADP National Employment Report released Wednesday.

The ADP figure is closely watched as a pre-indicator for the nonfarm payrolls data due Friday. Some analysts thought that a soft ADP report could give the Federal Reserve an excuse to postpone rate hikes.

"With so much emphasis on this Friday's employment report as the last before the September Fed meeting, another ADP number below 200k will temper expectations of a big jump in August hiring. If hiring continues to trend down, it will make it harder for the Fed to justify tighter monetary conditions," said Jay Morelock, an economist at FTN Financial, in a note.

Investors will also keep an eye on the Fed's Beige Book scheduled to release in the afternoon, for more clues on the timing of an interest rate hike.

On Tuesday, U.S. stocks suffered big losses, with all three major indices tumbling over 2.8 percent, as a renewed broad-based sell-off around the world rattled nervous investors. Endit