A rally in the world’s largest technology companies drove stocks higher, with traders wading through the latest economic data and awaiting Jerome Powell’s remarks for clues on the Federal Reserve’s next steps.

The well-received results from Salesforce.com are having an outsized impact on the Dow -- the software maker's current premarket price equates to a 273-point boost to the blue-chip index, which remember is price-weighted.

U.S. equity futures moved higher again Wednesday as markets regained their end-of-year optimism while eyeing another round of labor market data and key public remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell later in the session.