U.S. stocks appear set for a positive opening on Wednesday after Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech on Tuesday touched upon the central bank's quantitative tightening program as well as the weakness in the labor market.

“Our long-stated plan is to stop balance sheet runoff when reserves are somewhat above the level we judge consistent with ample reserve conditions. We may approach that point in coming months, and we are closely monitoring a wide range of indicators to inform this decision,” he said.

Powell's remarks come ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) October meeting, scheduled for October 28 and 29. According to data from the CME FedWatch tool, there is a 97.8% probability of a 25 basis point interest rate cut.

While Dow Jones futures were up by 0.44% at the time of writing, the S & P 500 futures gained 0.65%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100's futures rose 0.86%. Futures of the Russell 2000 index surged 1.11%.

Meanwhile, the SPDR S & P 500 ETF (SPY) was up 0.66% at the time of writing, Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) gained 0.88% on Wednesday morning, and SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) rose 0.44%. Retail sentiment around the S & P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the 'bullish' territory.

Asian markets ended Wednesday's trading session on a positive note, with the KOSPI leading with gains of 2.61%, followed by the Hang Seng index at 1.8%, and the Hang Seng and the TWSE Capitalization Weighted Stock indexes at 1.77% each.

The Shanghai Composite gained 1.2%.

Stocks To Watch

• ASML Holding NV (ASML): ASML shares soared over 4% pre-market after the company's third-quarter (Q3) results. ASML reported earnings per share (EPS) of $6.37 on revenue of $8.71 billion, while analysts expected an EPS of $6.36 on revenue of $9.02 billion, according to Stocktwits data.
• Bank of America Corp. (BAC): Bank of America shares surged 5% in Wednesday's pre-market session after the lender's Q3 results beat Wall Street expectations. Bank of America reported EPS of $1.06 on revenue of $28.24 billion, while analysts expected an EPS of $0.95 on revenue of $27.5 billion, according to Stocktwits data.
• Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. (ADM), Bunge Global SA (BG): The two crop traders will be in focus on Wednesday after President Donald Trump said his administration was considering ending some cooking oil business with China.
• United Airlines Holdings Inc. (UAL), Morgan Stanley (MS), and Abbott Laboratories (ABT) are among the companies scheduled to report their latest quarterly earnings on Wednesday.

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