U.S. stocks remained higher in Wednesday's final hour of trading as investors looked past weaker-than-expected data from the Institute for Supply Management and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's remarks about taking a more cautious approach to lowering rates.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average ( ^DJI) climbed 0.6%, or over 200 points, while the S&P 500 ( ^GSPC) added 0.3% on the heels of an all-time closing high. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite ( ^IXIC) gained around 0.5%.

U.S. equity futures moved higher again Wednesday as markets regained their end-of-year optimism while eyeing another round of labor market data and key public remarks from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell later in the session.

Major U.S. equities benchmarks closed mostly higher Tuesday, with the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite booking a record high while Big Tech stocks helped buoy the S&P 500. The S&P 500 eked out a gain of 2.73 points, or less than 0.1%, to end at a fresh all-time peak of 6,049.88.