Wall Street stocks climbed early Wednesday, adding to records on major indices ahead of a second day of congressional testimony from US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell.

On Tuesday, Powell told the Senate Banking Committee that the American economy had made "modest" progress countering inflation, in remarks that were seen as keeping alive potential interest rate cuts in 2024.

Powell's appearance Wednesday comes a day before the release of a key US inflation report.

About 10 minutes into trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average stood at 39,315.32, up 0.1 percent.

The broad-based S&P 500 won 0.2 percent to 5,587.79, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index moved up 0.3 percent to 18,492.20.

Among individual companies, Microsoft was flat after the tech giant informed regulators that it will not take a non-voting position on the board of OpenAI amid scrutiny of its influence over the groundbreaking ChatGPT maker.

Honeywell International gained 1.0 percent after announcing that it purchased Air Products' liquefied natural gas process technology and equipment business for $1.8 billion. Air Products advanced 0.8 percent.