U.S. stock futures were in the red Wednesday as the ADP private payroll employment figures missed expectations and as markets waited for monetary policy makers to speak on the economy.

The February ADP private payrolls rose 212,000 compared to the 220,000 estimate while January payrolls were revised upwards to 250,000 from 213,000.

In other economic data, the Markit purchasing managers flash index for February, out at 9:45 a.m. is expected to show a gain to 56.8 compared to the final 54.2 in January. The consensus range for February is between 54.0 and 57.0, according to data compiled by Econoday.

At 10:00 a.m., the ISM non-manufacturing survey index is expected to have edged down to 56.5 in February from 56.7 in January. The consensus range is between 55.0 and 57.5.

Meanwhile, the Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans, President, the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank President Esther George and the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher are speaking on the economy at various events on Wednesday.

In equities, the apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch ( ANF ) fell over 5% in recent pre-market trade after Q4 results missed estimates and as it warned of foreign currency exchange rates weighing on fiscal 2015. Ambarella ( AMBA ), the developer of semiconductor processing solutions for video that enable high-definition, video capture, sharing and display, saw its shares gain nearly 8% after reporting a Q4 beat on both the top and bottom lines.