This report is from today's CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

What you need to know today

Markets rise on upbeat earnings
U.S. stocks resumed their advance Wednesday, as Morgan Stanley and United Airlines earnings topped estimates. Europe's regional Stoxx 600 index fell 0.19%, but the FTSE 100 rose 0.97% on a sharp drop in U.K. inflation for September. Traders are looking forward to the European Central Bank meeting Thursday.

Follow Decision Time for the ECB live
Market watchers are expecting the European Central Bank to cut rates by 25 basis points at its meeting later today. If that projection pans out, it'd be the third time the ECB's cutting rates this year. Catch today's action on Decision Time, CNBC's live show analyzing the decision, starting 1 p.m. BST.

Big Tech going nuclear 
Amazon's cloud business Amazon Web Services has signed a deal with Dominion Energy to explore the development of a nuclear reactor, the company announced Tuesday. AWS is the latest in a series of technology companies turning to nuclear energy to power their energy-hungry data centers, in a bid to meet net-zero goals.  

Collateral damage
UBS analysts think that ASML's forecast suggests sales to China in 2025 would fall by almost a third. The Dutch semiconductor equipment manufacturer's financial performance could be a foretaste of how U.S. chip export controls to China affect tech companies.  

[PRO] Are investors too optimistic?
Investors are optimistic, and markets are riding high on that sentiment. Expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve can steer the economy to a soft landing and the year entering a seasonally strong period has boosted investor sentiment. But there are still risks to look out for, notes CNBC Pro's Bob Pisani. Such fiery optimism is one of them. 

The bottom line

The pullback in stocks on Wednesday was brief, like a marathoner pausing to drink before pounding the road again.

"Yesterday's weakness does not change the intermediate and long-term uptrends, and we believe it will prove to be just a pullback within the context of a longer-term uptrend," Piper Sandler said in a note.

After dipping from its 43,000 level on Tuesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.79% Wednesday to break that barrier again, closing at 43,077.70.

The S&P 500 climbed 0.47% and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.28%.

Markets are basking in the glow of a positive earnings season so far. Around 80% of the 50 S&P companies that have posted earnings have topped expectations, according to FactSet data.

Morgan Stanley, for one, reported third-quarter figures that surpassed earnings and revenue estimates. The bank's profit jumped 32% from a year ago, far outstripping the LSEG estimate and topping several other big banks' income growth.

The investment banking business was a main source of profit for Morgan Stanley. Supported by the U.S. Federal Reserve beginning its rate-cutting cycle, initial public offerings and mergers and acquisitions are emerging from hibernation, injecting fresh life into Wall Street banks.

Morgan Stanley popped 6.5% after results. The SPDR S&P Bank ETF has jumped more than 6% over the past five trading days. In another sign of the rally broadening, the banking ETF has outstripped the S&P 500's climb of less than 1% during the same period.

"We anticipate the macroeconomic and earnings environments to remain favorable," UBS says, "which supports staying invested in equities."

With monetary policy easing, the economy staying strong and inflation cooling — import prices dipped 0.4% for September, according to the U.S. Labor Department — stocks look like they have stamina to keep going higher.

– CNBC's Hugh Son, Alex Harring, Jeff Cox, Lisa Kailai Han and Jesse Pound contributed to this story.