Before the bell: Stocks set to open higher ahead of Fed

U.S. stocks were poised for a higher open Wednesday, as investors await the Federal Reserve's latest pronouncement on the nation's economy, new home sales data and corporate results.
Optimism sparked from President Obama's State of the Union address late Tuesday may also help push stocks higher.

Economy: The Federal Reserve is expected to hold its benchmark interest rate near rock-bottom, when it concludes a two-day meeting Wednesday. A policy statement is expected around 19:15 GMT.
New home sales data will be released by the Commerce Department after the market opens. Economists expect sales rose to an annual rate of 300,000 in December from 290,000 in November, according to a consensus of estimates from Briefing.com.
Companies: Toyota (TM) announced it is recalling more than 1.5 million vehicles worldwide for issues that could result in fuel leakage. News of the recall sent shares of the automaker more than 1% lower in premarket trading.
Xerox (XRX, Fortune 500) logged earnings that fell from a year earlier, but were in line with expectations and announced its Chief Financial Officer Larry Zimmerman will retire next month. Shares of Xerox dropped more than 3% following the report.
Dow component United Technologies (UTX, Fortune 500) posted a quarterly profit that also slightly beat forecasts. Shares of the company edged about 1% lower.
Boeing (BA, Fortune 500)'s lower quarterly profit also met expectations, but its revenue and outlook disappointed - pushing shares of the company down 2.4%.
After the market close Wednesday, coffee chain Starbucks (SBUX, Fortune 500) is slated to report its quarterly earnings.