U.S. stock index futures nudged up on Wednesday as investors processed hawkish remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell that sparked a selloff on Wall Street the previous day and sharpened their attention on the incoming labour market data.

After Powell informed American lawmakers that the Fed will likely need to raise interest rates more than anticipated as it works to contain inflation, the major U.S. stock indexes declined by more than 1% on Tuesday, with the benchmark S&P 500 posting its worst percentage fall in two weeks.

With money market futures pricing in a 64.1% possibility of such a move, traders significantly upped their bets that the U.S. central bank will hike rates by 50 basis points later this month.

Dow e-minis edged up by 37 points or 0.11%, S&P 500 e-minis climbed by 3.75 points, or 0.09%, and Nasdaq 100 e-minis were higher by 13.75 points or 0.11%.