WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he had started the process of interviewing candidates for an open position on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors and said the candidate pool was probably down to three choices .

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he will decide on a nominee to fill a coming vacancy on the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors by the end of the week, and had separately narrowed the possible replacements for Fed Chair Jerome Powell to a short list of four.

The President ruled out Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to succeed Jerome Powell but said there are four others on his list.

S&P 500 and Dow futures climbed on Wednesday, as investors assessed a fresh round of corporate earnings, while renewed optimism that the Federal Reserve will soon deliver long-awaited interest rate cuts kept markets buoyant.

U.S. stock index futures rose on Wednesday amid growing expectations of the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts this year, while investors assessed a new wave of corporate earnings.