Stock futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Wednesday as Intel Corp's solid results and upbeat outlook reinforced hopes for an economic recovery and a rebound in technology spending.

Shares of Intel, a chip-maker and Dow component, rose more than 7 percent in pre-market trading as its quarterly results and outlook blew past Wall Street forecasts, helped by strong consumer demand for PCs, setting an auspicious tone for the technology sector.

Shares of AMD Micro Devices , Intel's main rival, gained 6.5 percent, and the Technology Select Sector SPDR gained more than 1 percent.

Wall Street's advance would extend a global equities rally after stocks rose in Asia overnight. In Europe, major indexes were up almost 2 percent.

(Intel's) guidance had a better tone to it. I think that's what the whole earnings season is going to be about, said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Avalon Partners in New York.

The market wants to hear more of what Intel had to say, that corporate America is feeling a bit better.

S&P 500 futures climbed 11.1 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 81 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 26.5 points.

Crude futures rose 1.6 percent ahead of the Energy Information Administration oil inventories report expected at 10:30 a.m. EDT.

Intel's rosy news notwithstanding, investors were still confronted with signs of consumer strains after credit card company Capital One Financial Corp posted a rise in defaults.

Economic data on tap for 8:30 a.m. EDT includes the June U.S. Consumer Price Index -- expected to surge 0.6 percent based on the median forecast of economists surveyed by Reuters -- and July's New York's Empire State manufacturing survey -- expected at a minus 5.0 reading based on a survey of economists. U.S. industrial output for June, due at 9:15 a.m. EDT, is forecast to drop 0.6 percent, improved from a drop of 1.1 percent in the previous month.

Also Wednesday, minutes from the latest Federal Reserve policy meeting will be scrutinized for details on how the Fed arrived at its recent assessment of the economy's outlook.

Companies reporting quarterly results include Gannett Co and Xilinx Inc .

U.S. stocks rose on Tuesday as better-than-expected corporate profits overshadowed concerns about weak consumer demand.

(Editing by Padraic Cassidy)

Intel