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About an hour before the opening bell, stock index futures hint at a possible triple-digit loss for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The NASDAQ is indicated 15 to 20 points lower.

Alcoa (AA) shares fell late Tuesday after the aluminum company said it was cutting 13,500 jobs or about 13 percent of its workforce. Alcoa also plans to cut production by 18 percent. Shares of the Dow component are down 6.4 percent in pre-market action Wednesday morning.

The latest jobs numbers from ADP put pressure on stock index futures as well. The report released Wednesday morning showed the economy losing 693,000 private sector jobs during the last month of 2008. Economists were looking for a decline of 495,000. To make matters worse, November numbers were revised down to show a loss of 472,000, worse than the initial report of 250,000.

The weak numbers come two days ahead of the Labor Departments jobs report. Economists expect Friday’s data to show the economy losing 475,000 jobs. The number includes private and public jobs. ADP considers only the private sector and is notoriously volatile.

Nevertheless, bonds are getting a modest lift from the poor numbers. The benchmark ten-year Treasury is up a few ticks in early pit trading and now yields 2.48 percent.

The dollar is under a bit of pressure, falling back to 92.52 on the yen. The euro has rallied back to 1.3725 on the buck.

Crude oil is down 38 cents to $48.20 ahead of crude oil inventory data due out at 10:30 a.m. Eastern Time. Gold is steady at $866 an ounce.

Among the stocks to watch, Monsanto (MON) shares are up 8 percent after the company posted quarterly earnings of 98 cents per share, which was more than double Street estimates. Family Dollar (FDO) is also higher on better-than-expected earnings. Bed, Bath and Beyond (BBBY) might see action ahead of a profit report due out after the closing bell.

In the options market, trading volume is improving despite relatively quiet trading this week. Approximately 8.8 million calls and 6.4 million puts traded across the seven US options exchanges Tuesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average recaptured 62 of the 82 points lost the day before. The CBOE Volatility Index (.VIX) drifted down .52 to a three -month low of 38.56.

Time Warner (TWX) short-term calls saw active trading ahead of a presentation at the Citigroup Entertainment, Media, & Telecom conference Wednesday afternoon. Shares finished the day up 48 cents to $10.98 and January calls at the 11 and 12.5 strikes saw the most action. Almost 10,000 traded, as some short term speculators appeared to be buying premium ahead of the conference. Motorola February 5 calls saw action. More than 48,000 traded, with some traders citing a positive newsletter mention for the surge in activity. Bullish trading was also seen in Amkor (AMKR), Compania Vale Rio Doce (RIO), and the PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX).

Wells Fargo (WFC) saw action after a strategist opened a massive spread by purchasing 53,100 February 28 puts and selling half as many February 23 puts. NetApp (NTAP) puts were actively traded as well. The uptick in activity happened after RBC analysts cut the chipmaker to Sector Perform and also lowered their price target on NTAP from $21 to $17. The stock finished up 25 cents to $14.64 and more than 4,500 January 15 puts traded on the day. Bearish trading also surfaced in Brunswick (BC), Kimco Realty (KIM), and Vulcan Materials (VMC).