Wall St. points to lower open ahead of data, Fed; Apple slides 2%

U.S. stock markets pointed to a lower open on Wednesday morning, as market players digested disappointing earnings news from Apple, while looking ahead to key U.S. data and the outcome of the Federal Reserve's policy meeting.

The blue-chip Dow futures lost 38 points, or around 0.2%, by 6:55AM ET (10:55GMT), the S&P 500 futures dipped 6 points, or 0.2%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 futures fell 19 points, or 0.3%.

U.S. equities closed slightly higher on Tuesday, with the Nasdaq composite hitting yet another all-time peak, as investors digested a heavy day of earnings reports.

The Fed is not expected to take action on interest rates at the conclusion of its two-day policy meeting at 2:00PM ET (18:00GMT) on Wednesday. The U.S. central bank will release its post-meeting statement as investors look for any change in language which could point more clearly to a June rate hike.

Besides the Fed minutes, Wednesday' calendar also features the ADP private sector nonfarm payrolls report at 8:15AM ET (12:15GMT) and the ISM non-manufacturing survey at 10AM ET (14:00GMT).

Market experts do not expect the Fed to raise interest rates again until June, especially in light of recent softening data.

Futures traders are pricing in around a 60% chance of a hike at the Fed's June meeting, according to Investing.com’s Fed Rate Monitor Tool. Odds of a September increase was seen at about 80%.

Among active pre-market movers, Apple shares (NASDAQ:AAPL) fell around 2% ahead of the opening bell after the tech giant's quarterly revenue fell short of estimates as the company sold fewer iPhones than expected.

Shares of Twilio (NYSE:TWLO) tanked 30% following disappointing guidance for the current quarter.

On the upside, Weight Watchers (NYSE:WTW) spiked 14% after the company reported a narrower-than-expected loss.

Wednesday's batch of high-profile earnings include Time Warner (NYSE:TWX) and Sprint (NYSE:S) before the bell. Facebook (NASDAQ:FB), Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), AIG (NYSE:AIG) and Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ:KHC) are due to report after the bell.

In other markets, European stocks pulled back from a 20-month high, as investors digested the latest in Brexit negotiations and corporate earnings.

Earlier, in Asia, markets ended mixed, with the Shanghai Composite in China closing down around 0.3%, while most of the major markets in the region remained shut for holidays.

Elsewhere, oil prices bounced back from a more than one-month low as investors looked ahead to the Energy Department's weekly supply report at 10:30AM ET.