U.S. stocks were poised for a flat open on Wednesday after a private-sector employment report showed an improvement from October but fell shy of forecasts.

U.S. private employers shed 169,000 jobs in November, fewer than the 195,000 in October, but worse than forecasts for a decline of 155,000 jobs, according to the ADP National Employment private sector survey .

You always take the ADP with a grain of salt. It's not always right on. said Frank Lesh, futures analyst and broker at FuturePath Trading LLC in Chicago.

(But) It wasn't that far off, and it's still an improvement.

Also on tap for Wednesday is the Federal Reserve periodic Beige Book survey of regional U.S. economic conditions.

S&P 500 futures shed 1.2 points and were slightly below 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 dipped 12 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures dipped 1.50 points.

SunTrust Banks Inc shares gained 3 percent to $23.90, while BB&T Corp was up 1.3 percent at $25.92 after Credit Suisse upgraded the U.S. regional bank sector to overweight and boosted its rating on SunTrust and BB&T.

Walgreen Co dropped 3.7 percent to $37.90 after the drugstore chain said November sales increased 8.7 percent while same-store sales rose 3.9 percent for the same period, shy of expectations for a 6.1 percent rise.

Nokia , the world's largest cell-phone maker, said it expects handset market volumes to grow about 10 percent next year. For details, see U.S. listed shares fell 1.2 percent to $13.25 in premarket trading.

U.S. crude futures fell nearly 1 percent to below $77.69 per barrel after industry data showed a surprise build in U.S. crude stocks, raising doubts over demand recovery.

General Motors Co's board of directors fired Chief Executive Fritz Henderson on Tuesday, saying it wanted to chart a new course as the U.S. automaker pushes ahead with its restructuring.

(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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