By Barbara Kollmeyer, MarketWatch MADRID (MarketWatch) -- U.S. stock futures were in a tight range Wednesday, as investors turned their focus to more austerity measures from Greece and economic data due later that should shed more light on the U.S. labor market. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7 points to 10,392, and S&P 500 futures fell three-tenths of a point to 1,171.10. Futures on the Nasdaq 100 fell 7 points. U.S. stocks managed a higher close on Tuesday, with merger activity lifting investor sentiment and technology stocks boosted by Qualcomm's $3 billion stock buyback. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended at 10,405.98, up 2.19 points. The S&P 500 rose 0.2% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.3%. Economic data on the agenda for Wednesday includes the ADP employment report for February due at 8:15 a.m. Eastern and the ISM services index for February due at 10 a.m. The Fed's Beige Book on the economy is also due at 2 p.m., while Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart will be speaking ahead of that at 1 p.m. "We have a buy-on-dips stance for stocks ahead of the ADP employment change today, which could disappoint slightly," said Christian Tegllund Blaabjerg, chief equity strategist at Saxo Bank, in a market update. "The ISM should do fine, but take profit on longs ahead of the Fed's Beige Book, which is likely to continue painting a bleak picture of the U.S. economy." On the mergers and acquisition front, Pfizer (PFE 17.34, -0.26, -1.48%) reportedly plans to bid as much as $4.1 billion for German generic-drug company Ratiopharm, according to a report from Bloomberg, citing two people familiar with the situation. Such an offer would pit Pfizer against Israel's Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries (TEVA 60.95, +0.34, +0.56%) and Icelandic group Actavis, which are also reportedly bidding. Pfizer rose 1% in premarket trade. Novell (NOVL 6.11, +1.36, +28.63%) shot up 27% on a bid to be bought by hedge fund Elliott & Associates for $1 billion, or $5.75 a share, that the company said it's reviewing. An investment group led by J.P. Morgan Asset Management and Water Asset Management said it's buying SouthWest Water Co. (SWWC 7.07, +0.20, +2.91%) for $275 million. Costco Wholesale (COST 58.76, -2.62, -4.27%) fell 3% as the company's second-quarter results lagged analyst estimates. Meanwhile, focus returned to Greece on Wednesday, on news the government will take new austerity measures totaling 4.8 billion euros ($6.49 billion) to ensure it can meet its deficit-cutting pledge this year, according to news reports citing unnamed Greek officials. Greek bonds traded higher but the country's main stock market index dropped. "The measures today bring a bailout of Greece a step closer," said analysts at UBS in a note to investors. "It seems unlikely that Greece has kicked the deficit habit over the long term -- but markets will probably take comfort from a period of E.U.-sponsored rehab." Some relief over Greece was helping to support the euro against the dollar, which rose 0.2% to $1.3638. Shares in Europe were mildly lower as investors eyed that Greece news and a mixed batch of earnings. Meanwhile, the yield premium demanded by investors to hold 10-year Greek government bonds over German bunds narrowed. Asian markets saw broad but modest gains Wednesday, with strength in commodity plays and upbeat economic data helping to lift Australia's benchmark stock index to its highest level in more than five weeks. Crude-oil futures were up 38 cents a barrel to $80.06, while gold futures rose $1.50 to $1,139 an ounce.

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