Stock index futures rose on Wednesday, rebounding from a steep sell-off, as investors were comforted that European banks were less reliant on funding from the European Central Bank.

The ECB lent banks 131.9 billion euros ($161.4 billion) in three-month funds, below expectations, as the institutions faced repaying nearly one-half trillion euros in emergency loans on Thursday.

The results were seen as a gauge of the financial condition of European banks. Spanish, Portuguese and Greek banks have been the biggest users of the lending facilities.

Investors awaited a June employment report from Automatic Data Processing at 8:15 a.m. EDT. Economists in a Reuters survey expected that 60,000 jobs were created in June versus 55,000 in May.

At 8:30 a.m. EDT, the Institute for Supply Management-New York releases the June index of regional business activity. In May, the index read 449.3.

The Institute of Supply Management-Chicago releases its index of manufacturing activity at 9:45 a.m. EDT. Economists forecast a reading of 59.0 in the month versus 59.7 in May.

S&P 500 futures were up 7.2 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 56 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 12 points.

Hurricane Alex disrupted BP Plc's cleanup of the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill, delayed plans to boost containment capacity and threatening to push more oily water onshore. U.S. crude oil futures rose nearly 1 percent.

French drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis SA will buy U.S. biotechnology firm TargeGen Inc, which is developing treatments against blood diseases, for as much as $560 million in a bid to boost its cancer treatments.

Shares of General Mills Inc fell 2.2 percent to $36.09 in extended trading on Tuesday after the company forecast earnings below expectations.

Google Inc said it will end the automatic redirection of users from its China portal within the next 24 to 48 hours, but Beijing kept silent on whether it will allow the search giant to keep its local business.

Monsanto Co , the seed and chemical giant, is due to issues third-quarter results.

A U.S. commission will focus on ties between Goldman Sachs Group Inc and American International Group Inc , and how derivatives transactions between them may have contributed to the financial crisis.

Global equities markets rebounded from Tuesday's sell-off that took the S&P 500 down to its lowest level in eight months.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)