* Dollar falls on Fed easing expectations
* Intel, JPMorgan Chase rise after qtrly results
* Futures up: Dow 74 pts, S&P 8.4 pts, Nasdaq 14.25 pts (Adds details, new quote, updates prices)
By Chuck Mikolajczak
NEW YORK, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Wall Street was set for a strong open on Wednesday after a bullish forecast from Intel and solid earnings from JPMorgan along with expectations the Federal Reserve will move to prop up the economic recovery.
U.S. stocks hit fresh 5-month highs on Tuesday and the dollar came under pressure after minutes from the Fed's latest meeting showed the U.S. central bank may once again flood markets with cheap cash "before long" to boost growth.
Even with the benchmark S&P 500 posting an 11.5 percent rise since Sept. 1, stocks were poised to continue their climb as earnings poured in and investors jump in to chase the rally.
"There has still been a healthy degree of skepticism going into the earnings season, but we are getting to the point where underperforming money managers, whether they are on the hedge or mutual fund side, can't afford to sit on the sidelines anymore," said Angel Mata, managing director of listed equity trading at Stifel Nicolaus Capital Markets in Baltimore.
"So you are probably going to see a lot of irrational buying going forward because it's just to get invested."
JP Morgan Chase & Co rose 1.5 percent to $41.01 in premarket trade after the second largest U.S. bank by assets said quarterly profits jumped 22 percent, helped by lower loan losses in its retail and credit card units.
Intel Corp gained 1.3 percent to $20.03 premarket after the world's largest chipmaker forecast upbeat fourth-quarter sales and margins as resilient demand from emerging markets and corporations offset weak consumer spending. That raised hopes the technology sector could end 2010 on a strong note.
The dollar came under broad selling pressure and approached key lows against the euro, the Swiss franc and a basket of currencies on more signs of U.S. monetary easing. The dollar index shed 0.4 percent.
S&P 500 futures were up 8.4 points and above fair 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 jumped 74 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures advanced 14.25 points.
Dutch chip equipment maker ASML Holding NV beat estimates with a big rise in quarterly profits on a surge in demand and said it should end the year with a record order book. Its U.S.-traded shares climbed 6 percent to $32.40.
Minutes of the Fed's meeting in September revealed officials thought the struggling recovery might soon need more help and discussed options, including possible adoption of a price-level target.
The prospect of the additional Fed stimulus has created an inverse correlation between the dollar and equities, with a decline in the greenback triggering a move into equities.
Chevron Corp shed 0.6 percent to $83.35 premarket after the U.S. oil major forecast third-quarter earnings below the previous period, weighed down by a drop in U.S. production, higher costs and the effects from a weaker dollar.