Wall Street stock futures fell Wednesday after a report showed a sharper-than-expected decline in U.S. private sector employment.

A report from payrolls firm Automatic Data Processing showed a 742,000-job plunge in private sector payrolls during March, worse than the decline of about 650,000 most economists had expected. The U.S. government will issue its reading on March payrolls Friday.

Investors were looking ahead to Thursday’s G20 summit in London where world leaders will discuss reforms of the global financial system.

Here at home, the Canadian dollar opened at US79.01¢, down 0.27 of a cent from Tuesday’s close.

In commodities news, crude oil fell US$1.15 to US$48.51 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Overseas, Japan’s Nikkei stock average rose 3%. In midday trading, Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.6%, Germany’s DAX index fell 0.7%, and France’s CAC-40 fell 0.9%.

Toronto stocks rallied on Tuesday as positive news from European banks cheered investors.

The S&P/TSX composite index rose 124.17 points, or 1.44%, to close at 8,720.39.

The benchmark rose 7.4% in March, its first monthly gain since August.

The junior S&P/TSX Venture composite index gained 11.61, or 1.23%, to finish at 956.81.

In New York, U.S. stocks rose, sending the S&P 500 to its best month since October 2002, as investors snapped up bank and technology shares as the first quarter came to an end.

The Dow Jones industrial average gained 86.90 points, or 1.16%, to 7,608.92. The S&P 500 added 10.34 points, or 1.31%, to 797.87. The Nasdaq composite index rose 26.79 points, or 1.78%, to 1,528.59.

IE