Stocks are indicated modestly lower following two days of gains and a mixed round of earnings news Wednesday. Thirty minutes before the opening bell on Wall Street, stock index futures hint at a possible 20 point early loss for the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The industrial average has gained 230 points so far this week.

However, Dow component Pfizer (PFE) is down 2.5 percent after the pharmaceutical giant reported quarterly profits of 49 cents per share, which was a penny shy of analyst estimates. Time Warner (TWX), MetLife (MET), and Wal-Green’s (WAG) are also lower on earnings. News Corp. (NWSA), owner of the Wall Street Journal, jumped 5 percent after reporting a 25-cent per share profit, which beat Street estimate by a nickel.

In economic news, ADP reports that 22,000 private sector jobs were lost in January, which was better than the 30,000 loss economists had predicted. The report comes two days ahead of key jobs data. Economists expect Friday’s report to show the economy adding 13,000 jobs in the first month of 2010.

The ISM Services Index is due out 10:00 a.m. eastern time. Economists expect the gauge of economic activity outside of manufacturing to improve to 51 for January, up from 49.8 the month before.

Bonds are lower on the better-than-expected jobs numbers. The benchmark ten-year Treasury is down a few ticks and now yields 3.67 percent

The dollar added .44 to 90.80 against the yen. The euro edged down .0019 to 1.3942 against the buck.

After gaining almost $5 over the past two days, crude oil is off 33 cents to $76.90 a barrel ahead of weekly inventory data at 10:30 eastern time. Gold lost $4.8 to $1113.20 an ounce.