US Stocks-S&P 500, Dow futures inch up as Mideast hopes offset SpaceX, AMD drag

At 6:54 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were up 202 points, or 0.37%, S&P 500 E-minis were up 31.5 points, or 0.41% and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 4.25 points, or 0.01%.

The focus is also on a private national employment survey due at 8:15 a.m. ET that could offer clues on how the jobs market fared in July, ahead of the official non-farm payrolls figures on Friday. A survey on services sector activity during the previous month is also due at 10 a.m. ET.

Data has broadly reflected robust economic performance, but with Middle East tensions keeping energy costs elevated and the Federal Reserve offering no forecasts on monetary policy, uncertainty persists.

Kansas City Fed President Jeff Schmid, a non-voting member on the Federal Open Market Committee, said late on Tuesday that some sort of monetary policy tightening is needed to get "too high" inflation back to the 2% target. Remarks from Governor Lisa Cook and San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly will be scrutinized for their perspectives on interest rates.