Stock futures rose Wednesday as Salesforce and Marvell Technology led tech shares higher on the back of strong quarterly earnings.

Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 223 points, or 0.5%. S&P 500 futures climbed 0.3%, and Nasdaq-100 futures jumped 0.7%.

Salesforce climbed 13% after the company posted fiscal third-quarter revenue that beat estimates. Chipmaker Marvell also beat earnings expectations and issued strong fourth-quarter guidance.

Wall Street is coming off a mixed session, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq eking out small gains to record levels, while the Dow fell slightly.

The major averages have had a tepid start to the month compared to the major averages' strong November advance following Donald Trump's victory at the polls. However, the rally is likely to pick up again this month, according to LPL Financial portfolio strategist George Smith.

"Turning the calendar ahead to December, momentum could continue for stocks as historically it has been a good month for stock market seasonals," he said. "These strong returns are historically often back-end loaded."

On Wednesday, traders will review the ADP private payrolls report for November, which is expected to show growth of 163,000 positions, per economists polled by Dow Jones. The S&P Global U.S. Services Purchasing Managers' Index, factory orders and durable goods are also slated for release.

On the Federal Reserve front, Chair Jerome Powell will be speaking in New York in a moderated discussion Wednesday afternoon.

HSBC upgrades Merck to a buy

HSBC anticipates a better year ahead for shares of Merck.

The firm upgraded the pharmaceutical giant to a buy rating, citing opportunities for a recovery in China Gardasil vaccine revenues and its Keytruda combination clinical trials.

"We think that the current valuation leaves a significant margin of safety in valuation for Merck, especially given its strategy to extend its oncology portfolio's earning potential in the medium term," wrote Rajesh Kumar.

The analyst retained the firm's $130 price target, implying 28% upside from Tuesday's close. The stocks is down 6.6% this year.

— Samantha Subin

GM falls on China venture restructuring

General Motors shares were down more than 1% after the automaker said it expects the restructuring of a joint China venture with SAIC Motor to cost more than $5 billion.

"As we have consistently said, we are focused on capital efficiency and cost discipline and have been working with SGM to turn around the business in China in order to be sustainable and profitable in the market.  We are close to finalizing our restructuring plan with our partner, and we expect our results in China in 2025 to show year-over-year improvement," GM said in an emailed statement.

— Fred Imbert, Michael Wayland

JPMorgan downgrades M&T Bank

JPMorgan is moving to the sidelines on shares of M&T Bank, citing its recent outperformance.

"We view MTB's earnings outlook as solid, with large benefit in 2025 from roll off of receive fixed swaps driving sizable uplift to net interest income (NII)," wrote analyst Andrew Dietrich. "However, we expect its office [commercial real estate] exposure and relatively lower loan loss reserves to remain a headwind."

Shares of the regional bank stock have rallied more than 56% this year, outperforming the firm's coverage by 21%. This, and a lack of a near-term catalyst, warrants a breather, Dietrich said. Trades also currently trade slightly above their historical average.

— Samantha Subin

European markets open higher

European markets edged slightly higher at the opening bell on Wednesday, with the Stoxx 600 index climbing into positive territory during early trades.

Investors in the region are awaiting the outcome of a vote by French lawmakers on whether to topple Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government. The motion is widely expected to pass.

Read the latest on European markets here.

— Chloe Taylor

South Korea stocks drop as opposition parties move to impeach President Yoon

South Korean markets fell Wednesday as pressure mounted on President Yoon Suk Yeol to step down after he imposed and then lifted a martial law decree within hours.

The country's Kospi index dropped 1.44% to end at 2,464, and the Kosdaq fell 1.98% to 677.15, recovering some losses after dropping over 2% earlier in the day.

A coalition of lawmakers from South Korea's opposition parties put forward a bill to impeach Yoon on Wednesday afternoon, according to the spokesperson's office of the main opposition Democracy Party.

Japan's Nikkei 225 ended nearly flat at 39,276.39, while the Topix dropped 0.47% to 2,740.6. Mainland China's CSI 300 fell 0.54% to end trading at 3,930.56. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was trading down 0.1% to 19,730 in its final hour of trade.

Australia's S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.38% to end the trading day at 8,462.6 after the country's economic growth came in slower than expected for the third quarter.

— Dylan Butts

Stocks making the biggest moves after hours

Check out the companies making headlines in extended trading.

Salesforce — The software stock advanced 6% after the company posted a revenue beat in the third quarter. Revenue of $9.44 billion topped consensus forecasts calling for $9.35 billion, according to LSEG. Meanwhile, adjusted earnings of $2.41 per share slightly missed estimates for $2.44 per share. 

Marvell Technology – The developer of integrated circuits jumped 10% after issuing rosy guidance for the current quarter. The company sees fourth-quarter revenue coming in at $1.80 billion, compared to Wall Street's estimate of $1.65 billion, per LSEG. Adjusted earnings and revenue in the third quarter also topped expectations.

The full list can be found here.

— Hakyung Kim

Individual Investors are skeptical of continued market strength in December, BofA says

Individual investors are skeptical that this year's rally in the S&P 500 will continue in December, Bank of America said, citing data from the American Association of Individual Investors.

The latest weekly AAII poll showed the percentage of investors who think stock prices will rise over the next six months fell to 41.3% from 49.9% the week before. Bearish opinion — that prices will fall between now and next May — grew to 33.2% from 28.3%.

With bears growing and bulls shrinking and the S&P 500 above 6,000, the market is climbing a "wall of worry," said Stephen Suttmeier, BofA's technical research strategist. "Individual investors are not raging bulls on last week's rally to SPX 6000," he wrote Monday. Survey results suggest "that individual investors are not convinced that the SPX will continue its 2024 rally in December, but if the SPX does rally into yearend, these investors may be forced into a catch-up trade that fuels the rally" further, he added.

— Scott Schnipper

Stock futures open flat

U.S. stock futures were little changed Tuesday night.

The S&P 500 added 0.05%. Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 83 points, or 0.2%. Nasdaq 100 futures gained 0.1%.

— Hakyung Kim