* Fed to release statement about 2:15 p.m. EDT (1815 GMT)
* Futures up: S&P 1.3 pts, Dow 15 pts and Nasdaq 2.25 pts (Updates with ADP report, quote)
By Angela Moon
NEW YORK, Nov 3 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set for a slightly higher open on Wednesday after Republicans captured control of the U.S. House and ahead of an expected Federal Reserve announcement on monetary easing.
Further supporting futures, a private report showed U.S. private employers added more jobs than expected in October.
The Fed statement is due at about 2:15 p.m. EDT (1815 GMT) and is widely expected to give details on the extent and length of what's expected to be least $500 billion in bond purchases in hopes of breathing new life into the U.S. economy.
Some investors have been concerned the good economic report may make the Fed think twice about taking action, but John Canally, investment strategist at LPL Financial in Boston, said that likely won't be the case.
"The labor market is showing some solid footing, but this is not going to derail QE2 (quantitative easing). If the Fed was going to do something, it wouldn't be based on today's numbers," Canally said.
Futures rose to their highs overnight as voters swept Democrats from power in the House of Representatives and increased the number of Senate Republicans in a sharp rebuke to U.S. President Barack Obama. But the gains in futures melted as investors shifted their focus to the Fed.
"We are currently trading in line with expected news, but that may well become a different situation come this afternoon with the Fed announcement. In the short term, we are up 14 percent from September, with just two significant down days. It would take much to upset this market and see an easy 3-5 percent pullback if the Fed disappoints," said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies and Co in Boston.
The Republican victory was seen by markets as creating a more business-friendly environment as voters punished Democrats over high unemployment and the sluggish recovery. 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 gained 15 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 2.25 points.
The S&P 500 index has jumped almost 14 percent since September, and analysts said the election results had been priced into the market, leaving stocks ripe for profit-taking.
World stocks hit a two-year top on Wednesday, while emerging equities rose to their highest level since mid-2008 as investors bet that the Fed's actions would support the global economy.
Investors will get a better picture on the health of the economy at 10:00 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) from factory orders and the ISM non-manufacturing PMI index for October.
Economists expect factory orders to increase by 1.6 percent compared with a decline of 0.5 percent last month, and forecast an ISM reading of 53.5 percent versus 53.2 percent in the previous month.
U.S. Treasuries extended gains in European trading as traders anticipated the Fed resuming asset purchases after its policy meeting. T-note futures rose by as much as 8/32 to a one-week high of 126-26/32.
The U.S. dollar was little changed against a basket of currencies. The dollar and the S&P 500 have established a close inverse correlation in recent weeks. Their 30-day correlation stands at -0.84, with -1 being a perfect inverse correlation.