* European shares resumed a recent sharp rally on Wednesday after comments from China's new leader boosted global growth expectations.

* Chinese Communist Party chief Xi Jinping said the country will maintain its fine-tuning of economic policies in 2013 to ensure stable economic growth, sparking a sharp rally in Chinese shares with the Shanghai Composite Index .SSEC surging 2.9 percent.

* Xi listed tax reform, urbanization and allowing the market to play a bigger role in setting resource prices as among his key priorities.

* On the domestic front, investors awaited ADP's November employment report, due at 8:15 a.m. EDT. Economists in a Reuters survey expect 125,000 jobs were created versus 158,000 in October. Other data on Wednesday include factory orders and ISM's November non-manufacturing index, both due at 11 a.m. EDT.

* Repsol (REP.MC) filed a U.S. lawsuit to block Chevron Corp's (CVX.N) deal with Argentina's YPF (YPFD.BA), ramping up the Spanish oil company's legal response to the loss of its assets in Argentina.

* Programmable chipmaker Altera Corp (ALTR.O) trimmed its fourth-quarter revenue expectation citing fewer orders for its older products, sending its shares down 2 percent after the bell.

* Aerovironment Inc (AVAV.O) posted a better-than-expected quarterly profit as its unmanned aircraft unit sold more fixed-price products, sending its shares up 9 percent after the bell.

* Pandora Media Inc (P.N) lowered its fourth-quarter guidance, blaming a pull-back by advertisers on concerns about the U.S. budget, but analysts suggested it was due more to increasing competition.

* The U.S. Senate on Tuesday voted 98-0 to approve a wide-ranging defense bill that authorizes $631.4 billion in funding for the U.S. military, the war in Afghanistan and nuclear weapons.

* Walt Disney (DIS.N) gave a much needed boost to Netflix (NFLX.O), becoming the first major Hollywood studio to use the video service to bypass premium channels like HBO that traditionally controlled the delivery of movies to TV subscribers.

* The U.S. securities regulator is investigating a $10 million stock sale in March by Steven Fishman, chief executive of close-out retailer Big Lots Inc (BIG.N) who announced his retirement on Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the inquiry.

* U.S. stocks finished slightly lower in a quiet session on Tuesday as the back-and-forth wrangling over the "fiscal cliff" gave investors little reason to act.

* The Dow Jones industrial average .DJI fell 13.82 points, or 0.11 percent, to 12,951.78 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index .SPX dipped 2.41 points, or 0.17 percent, to 1,407.05. The Nasdaq Composite Index .IXIC shed 5.51 points, or 0.18 percent, to close at 2,996.69.

(Reporting by Blaise Robinson; Editing by John Stonestreet)

• A Permanent Economic Emergency