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NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- U.S. stock futures surged Wednesday, fueled by upbeat results from finance firm JPMorgan Chase and chipmaker Intel, and weak September retail sales that still beat forecasts.

S&P 500, Nasdaq-100 and Dow Jones industrial average futures were significantly higher ahead of the opening bell.

Futures measure current index values against their perceived future performance and offer an indication of how markets may open when trading begins.

"It looks like were going to have a pretty strong open," said Len Blum, managing director at Westwood Capital LLC, who said that Dow has a good chance of reaching 10,000, from its Tuesday close of 9,871.

"Right now it's all about earnings," said Blum, noting that Intel also beat expectations on Tuesday. "My sense is that the major banks are going to beat earnings this quarter, with the exception of maybe of Citi. The real question is really the long term. But today is going to be a good trading day."

Wall Street finished a choppy session mixed Tuesday as investors paused after pushing stocks to one-year highs.

Earnings: Intel (INTC, Fortune 500) reported earnings and revenue that topped Wall Street's estimates.

The company also issued an upbeat outlook, saying that it expected demand to rebound with the economic recovery.

JPMorgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500) reported third-quarter earnings of 82 cents per share, much more than expected. The New York City finance firm was expected to report 51 cents EPS for the third quarter, according to analyst consensus from Thomson Reuters.

Economy: Retail sales dropped 1.5% in September, beating expectations, according to the U.S. government. A consensus of economists surveyed by Briefing.com had expected a decline of 2.1%. That compares wtih August, when retail sales increased by the 2.7%.

Excluding auto sales, retail sales rose 0.5% in September. Ex-auto sales were expected to have edged up 0.2% in September, according to Briefing.com, compared to a gain of 1.1% the prior month.

A report on import and export prices showed that the price of U.S. imports edged up 0.1% in September, after increasing 1.6% the prior month.

The price of exports slipped 0.3% in September, after a revised increase of 1.6% the prior month.

At 2 p.m. ET, minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting will be released.

World markets: Global stock indexes climbed on Intel's results. Most Asian shares finished in positive territory, although Japan's Nikkei edged lower. Major European indexes were up more than 1% in midday trading.

Money and oil: The dollar fell versus major international currencies, including the euro and the pound, and was flat against the yen.

The price of oil rose 63 cents to $74.78 a barrel, after earlier crossing $75 a barrel for the first time in a year.